Yankees Blow 9-3 Lead, Lose 13-11 to Tribe

May/10

Yankees Blow 9-3 Lead, Lose 13-11 to Tribe

Indians starter David Huff was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez but the Indians overcame a 9-3 deficit to record a 13-11 victory over the Yankees.

The Yankees had all the ingredients for an easy win. They had a 9-3 lead over the Indians with C.C. Sabathia on the mound after four innings.

However the Indians were not ready to concede and outscored the Yankees 10-2 after the fourth inning. Sabathia allowed only five of the 13 runs to score but failed to win for his fifth straight start and only won once during May on May 3 when the Yankees defeated the last place Orioles.

Sabathia was 5-3 on this date in 2009 and still won 19 games so the Yankees are not too concerned about Sabathia yet. He pitched seven scoreless innings on May 18 against the Red Sox but didn’t receive the decision. In the game before that game and the two games after, he has given up 16 runs and 26 hits.

Indians starter David Huff only allowed three of the Yankees runs before being hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Alex Rodriguez and was carried off the field in a stretcher. Aaron Laffey relieved Huff and allowed six Yankees runs to score.

Joba Chamberlain blew the save when the Indians scored seven times in the seventh inning as Dave Robertson allowed two runs, Sergio Mitre yielded one run, and Chamberlain gave up four runs while retiring only one batter when the Indians took a 12-10 lead, and an eventual 13-11 win.

The Yankees not only lost the game but fell another game behind the Rays and now stand 4.5 games behind the Rays. The Blue Jays and Red Sox also won, moving the Blue Jays to a game within of the Yankees and the Red Sox two games behind them.

Baseball a Dangerous Game

Baseball fans were reminded again how dangerous baseball is when Cleveland pitcher Huff was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Rodriguez.

Then later in the day, Kendry Morales was celebrating a tenth inning walk-off grand slam that gave the Angels a 5-1 victory and was carried off the field on a stretcher after fracturing his leg during the celebration at home plate. It could be months before Morales returns to action after having surgery today.

The injury turned the celebration into tragedy as the Angels will be without their offensive leader, who led the team in home runs with 11 and in runs batted in with 39. Torii Hunter, who is four home runs behind Morales with seven and 10 runs batted in behind with 29, was hit by a pitch earlier in the game.

It may be a time to re-examine celebrations at home plate and give the players space to touch home plate without a crowd of players gathered around the plate and then celebrate on the way back to the dugout.

Around the Diamond

Thanks to the MLB Network I was able to see the last two innings of Roy Halladay’s perfect game. During those two innings, Juan Castro made two excellent plays one on a hot smash to the third baseman in the eighth inning and and on another ball that appeared to go through the hole, but was slow enough to be flagged down by Castro and thrown to Ryan Howard for the 27th out.

Halladay lowered his ERA to 1.99 as he won his seventh game, while losing three in 2010. It was ironic that Halladay had pitched his worst game of the season in his last start prior to the perfect game allowing the Red Sox six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Carlos Silva outpitched rookie Adam Ottavino making his Major League debut by pitching seven scoreless innings while allowing two hits and striking out 11 enroute to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Cardinals. Silva is the only pitcher in the majors with seven or more wins who has not lost a game. The win moved the Cubs to within four games of the second place Cardinals in the NL Central race.

The Blue Jays hit four more home runs to extend their home run lead over the Red Sox to 18 as they hit their 85th of the season. They are on a pace to hit 255 home runs this season…The Reds are feasting on Astros pitching as they hit six home runs en route to a 12-2 win pounding out 18 hits.

The Reds had battered Astros pitching on Friday night winning 15-6 behind a 19 hit attack. Reds have hit 10 home runs in the first two games of the series…2010 AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke pitched six innings of one-run baseball, but that run was all the the Red Sox needed for Clay Buchholz to record his fifth win of the season in their 1-0 victory.

The Athletics, Braves, and Reds have the longest current winning streaks with four-game winning streaks. The Diamondbacks have the longest losing streak with six consecutive losses…The Braves are the hottest team with a 8-2 record in their last 10 games, while the Orioles and Pirates have the worst record in their last 10 games with 2-8 records.