Yankees Blow Late Lead; Fall to Tigers in Extras 4-3

Hiroki Kuroda tossed 7 innings of three-run ball and the Brian McCann/Martin Prado duo hit home runs in the second and fifth, but since Matt Daly surrendered a big solo shot to Alex Avila in the top of the twelfth the Yankees fell to the Tigers, 4-3, tonight at Yankee Stadium. 

For most of this one, surprisingly, the Yanks did lead against Detroit's newest ex-Cy Young David Price (8 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 10 strikeouts), tying things early on that aforementioned homer by McCann (his third this season off of Price) before taking a 2-1 advantage in the third when Brendan Ryan and Jacoby Ellsbury connected on a pair of doubles. 

Still, since the overall-good Kuroda collapsed in the sixth and seventh New York did eventually lose its seemingly-comfortable 3-1 cushion, with #18 allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in those frames to even up the score.

Yes, from that point on the Yankees' bullpen of Dellin Betances, Shawn Kelley, David Huff, and Esmil Rogers did pretty well, but considering recent call-up Matt Daly still gave up that blast to Avila in the twelfth the Yanks were unfortunately defeated, the first time that's happened to them since Friday.

Yankees Blow Another Lead; Lose Fourth Straight Game to A's

Tonight's 7-4 loss to the A's was pretty much an exact replica of yesterday's.

For the first two innings, both starters, Vidal Nuno and Jesse Chavez, kept the game scoreless, before the Yankees' bats suddenly got hot in the third.

In that frame, speedy Outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Brett Gardner got on base for Derek Jeter, who beat out a grounder to short for a go-ahead, RBI Infield Single.

The contest obviously wasn't over at that point, but still, after a following three-run home run from Jacoby Ellsbury it definitely looked favorable.

Or, so it was thought.

On the first pitch of the top of the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes took Nuno deep, putting Oakland on the board. 

It wasn't anything to panic over, but it did begin to turn the tides.

In the A's next at-bat, they'd tack on another thanks to a Sac Fly from Jed Lowrie, knocking Nuno out after 4.2 innings of two-run, 92-pitch ball. 

He wasn't perfect, but considering that the Bombers still led 4-2 the team looked to be in good shape. 

Anyway, after Nuno's exit, Matt Daly came in, inducing a flyout from Josh Donaldson followed by a lead-off homer from Cespedes to start the sixth, his second of the night.

The Pinstripes' lead had fallen to 4-3, something that, after a throwing error from Jeter and a Matt Thornton-allowed single and walk, looked pretty dissatisfying. 

Eventually, Thornton would get out of the jam surrendering just the unearned run, tying the contest.

Later on in the top of the seventh, the earlier-mentioned Donaldson would homer off recent Triple-A call-up Jose Ramirez, causing him to take the loss in his MLB Debut.

In other words, nothing all that new happened in this game. The Yanks got off to a good start, but were again let down by their bullpen.

Bullpen's dominance, late rally lead Yankees to 13-inning win over Cubs

This game couldn't have gone better.

Not only the Yankees see that Jeff Samardzija is the real deal, but they also got a much-needed W today at Wrigley Field, beating the Cubs in a 13-frame thriller 4-2.

For just about all of the contest, the Bombers' offense showed no life, getting no runs in 7 innings against one of their possible future-starters in Samardzija.

Still, the Pinstripes did find a way to win in the end, picking up a pair of runs in the top of the ninth (Cubs led 2-0 after 8) off Chicago Closer Hector Rondon. The rally wasn't at all fancy, as its main highlight was just a bases-loaded Fielder's Choice from Ichiro followed by a run-scoring error, but overall it was definitely exciting. 

Anyway, after that AB this one became a battle of the bullpens, with the Yankees getting threw the ninth, tenth, and 1/3 of the eleventh thanks to a scorless outings from Matt Daly and Matt Thornton. Following Thornton's departure, the eventual winning pitcher Preston Claiborne came in, collecting another 5 outs.

In the top of the thirteenth, the Yankees would finally get to the Cubs' bullpen, scoring twice off Jose Veras when Claiborne bunted a couple of runners into scoring position, Brendan Ryan scored on a wild pitch, and John Ryan Murphy singled home an insurance run. Following those heroics, David Robertson would end the game in the bottom of the frame, recording the last three outs for his ninth save of the young season.