Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Pineda Stinks Again, Yanks Lose 7-3

     On an absolutely beautiful night in the Bronx, New York look for their third consecutive victory as they faced Kansas City in game three of the four games set. Unfortunately, with Teixeira, ARod, and Elsbury still out of the lineup, the Yankees trotted out what looked more like a spring training lineup than a middle-of-May lineup. To make matters worse, they also sent Michael Pineda to the hill to oppose Kansas City. Pineda has been absolutely miserable this season, with only one win and an ERA of 5.67, which would definitely be going north after tonight. He has been bad enough that when I found out that he was starting tonight, I almost didn't want to watch. And, as he has done all season long, stunk up the joint.
     Pineda's first inning ERA is over 13, where as his ERA after the first inning is under three, and the first frame is where the trouble for the big right-hander began tonight. Pineda served up a leadoff single too Alcedes Escobar, who was thrown out at second base attempting to steal. Then, he drilled Lorenzo Cain, who advanced to third on a Eric Hosmer single, and walked Kendrys Morales. The scoring was open when the next batter Alex Gordon hit a sacrifice fly to center, 1-0 Royals. The big blow came off the bat of the following hitter, when Salvador Perez launched a ball into the left-field bleachers, pushing the Royal lead to 4-0.
     The Yankees would try to dig themselves out of the hole left by Pineda, beginning when Carlos Beltran hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the second, 4-1. Later in the inning, after Aaron Hicks singled, Chase Headley drove in the second run of the night on an RBI single to left, 4-2. The following two hitters reached base via the walk, but, with the Yankees being 28th in all of baseball in batting average with runners in scoring position (.218), New York was again unable to come up with a big hit and potentialy tie the game. And it happened again in the bottom of the fifth when Brett Gardner led off the frame with a single and advanced to third on a Starlin Castro double. Brian McCann followed up with an RBI ground out, 4-3, but the tying run Castro was left stranded at third base.
     In the top of the sixth, Pineda would be lifted with two outs after walking Christian Colon who then advanced to third on a Jarrod Dyson base hit. Pineda's replacement, Nick Goody, immediately plunked the next batter Escobar, loading the bases. Lorenzo Cain drove both Dyson and Colon in on a single up the middle, 6-3 Kansas City. Being responsible for both runners that scored, Pineda's final line was 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB and 7 K's. The Royals would go on to add one more run in the top of the seventh when Kendrys Morales hit a solo homerun off of left-handed reliever Phil Coke.
     The Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound tomorrow in the fourth and final game, beginning at  7:05 PM ET.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)