Greene, Thornton Collapse in Sixth; Rangers Beat Yankees in Opener 4-2

Going into tonight's opener against the Rangers, there was no reason to believe that the Yankees would lose.

The then 50-47 team, coming off yesterday's walk-off, had just swept the Reds to begin the homestand, making 39-59 Texas look like an easy club to beat.

Still, due to one bad inning, the Yanks did fall in tough-to-watch fashion, with Shane Greene and Matt Thornton collapsing in the top of the sixth as the Rangers won easily 4-2.

During this one's first five frames, Greene committed three errors (yes, three), but thanks to five strikeouts and a few big plays from the offense he and the Bombers did have a 2-1 lead.

However, with two outs and nobody on in the aforementioned sixth, the Rangers began a ridiculous rally, causing a sac fly from Carlos Beltran and a solo home run from Jacoby Ellsbury to become worthless. 

Facing the red-hot Jake Smolinski with a 3-2 count, Greene allowed a routine single up the middle, followed immediately by a walk of Jim Adduci and a game tying knock just over the glove of Zealous Wheeler from the struggling Geovany Soto. 

After that disaster, and considering that he was at 113 pitches, Bombers Manager Joe Girardi finally decided to take the rookie out, replacing him with the rarely-reliable Matt Thornton.

Big mistake.

Entering the contest with two on, Thornton surrendered two more RBI hits to Rougner Odor and Shin-Soo Choo, putting Greene in line for the loss and eventually handing Miles Mikolas (7 1/3 IP, 2 ER) the W.

Subsequently, as expected, Thornton was removed without retiring anyone, capping off the action of one of the Pinstripes' most frustrating losses of the year, as Texas came into this one 4-24 in their last 28 and New York 4-1 in their last 5.

Thornton Ruins Phelps' Great Start in Finale Loss to Indians

During the course of a season, a team suffers many tough losses.

Usually, those defeats consist of close games that couldn't quite be finished, but sometimes a whole different kind of story emerges.

That is, when a starter's gem is ruined by a bad bullpen.

Unfortunately, that exact scenario played out for the Yankees tonight, with Matt Thornton and Jim Miller combining to give up seven earned runs in just two innings of work as the Yanks dropped a heartbreaker to the Indians, 9-3.

For the first 2/3 of the contest, things didn't look like they could get much better for the Bombers, who knocked Cleveland's T.J. House out after just 4.2 frames thanks to a 2-run homer from Zealous Wheeler and an RBI Single from Yangervis Solarte.

During that time, the Pinstripes also got 6 shutout innings from David Phelps, setting up what looked like an easy W heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Too bad that didn't happen.

To start off the turning-point at-bat, Phelps surrendered a pair of hits to Chris Dickerson and Roberto Perez, causing him to be removed. 

At that point, the desperate and worn out Yanks had nobody too reliable to put in, forcing them to go with the aforementioned Thornton, a veteran who not only misplayed what should've been a routine double play on the first guy he faced to load the bases but also gave up a game-tying triple to Asdrubel Cabrera, followed immediately by a Michael Brantley sac fly to cost the Bombers their lead.

And if things weren't already bad enough, Miller took the liberty of allowing another five members of the Tribe to circle the bases in the next frame, pretty much ending the contest, as the once full of promise Pinstripes now trailed by six.

To put it simply, the Yankees, now 46-45, should've won this one easily, but instead ran out of gas, something we should expect to happen throughout the year as long as their starters struggle to get past the sixth.

Yankees Bounce Back From Slow Start to Beat Twins 7-4

After a sweep-avoiding, 2-1 win over the A's last month that snapped a three game losing streak, many Yankees players praised Masahiro Tanaka for his ability to turn things around. 

The 25-year-old rookie, entering tonight 11-3 with a 2.10 ERA, led the team to a victory they arguably had to get, giving his teammates confidence to take nine of their next thirteen games.

Now obviously, the Yanks' current future is unknown, although you have to think that Tanaka snapping another skid this evening will at least do something, as the youngster put together a solid performance in a 7-4 win over the Twins. 

For most of his outing, Tanaka wasn't necessarily dominant, but in the end, he still got through 7 innings allowing just 4 earned runs, helping him collect W #12.

In the early going, #19 did give up a pair that put the Bombers in an early 2-0 hole, but after getting a three-run home run from Carlos Beltran and another solo shot from Zealous Wheeler (his first career hit) in the top of the fifth he seemed to settle down, even if he didn't eventually collect a quality start.

Later on in the seventh, the Pinstripes' bats would again back up their ace in exciting fashion, putting a three-spot on the board when Brendan Ryan doubled down the third-base line, Brett Gardner singled to center, and Derek Jeter hit into a unique forceout to pretty much end the game. 

Those three trips around the bases also caused Twins Pitcher Phil Hughes to be removed, with his final line reading 6 1/3 innings of 7-run ball.

After Tanaka's departure, Dellin Betances and David Robertson combined for two more scoreless frames, officially clinching the victory, the Yankees' first since last Friday and 42nd in 84 contests this season.

Yangervis Solarte to AAA, Dean Anna DFAd

In an update to the news that Zelous Wheeler has been called up to the big club, the Yankees have announced the corresponding move(s) to open up spots on the 40-man and Active rosters.

Yangervis Solarte has been optioned to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, while Dean Anna has been designated for assignment. 

It would be nice if the Yankees would admit their mistakes and just get rid of the dead weight on the team (to name one... Kelly Johnson), but in typical fashion they're just rotating youngsters in and out of the minors.

Yankees rally late to tie Tigers, 7-7

Despite getting just 3.2 innings of six-run ball (10 hits, no walks, 1 strikeout) from starter Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees tied with the Tigers today at Steinbrenner Field, 7-7. Now let's be honest, this is just spring training, but still, those numbers are terrible. What got into #18 today? 

Anyway, as the title clearly states, the Pinstripes did still come back to force a tie in this one, as Francisco Cervelli hit two solo homers, Zealous Wheeler drove in two runs with a double, Austin Romine pushed across a run with a groundout, and Zoilo Almonte tied the game with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth. So yea, overall I'd say this game went alright. I mean, the offense and every pitcher but Kuroda did pretty well, wouldn't you say so?