Yankees' win streak snapped in loss to A's
Photo credit: AP | Brett Gardner
Photos: Yankees vs. A's
Yankees' Carnival for Kids
The first little mistakes by the Yankees led to their first loss in nine games.
Joe Girardi left Andy Pettitte in two batters too long in the seventh and reliever Alfredo Aceves didn't quite get an 0-and-2 pitch with two out where it was supposed to be.
A pitch away from escaping a bases-loaded, one-out situation with the score tied yesterday, Aceves instead allowed three inherited runners (plus two more of his own) to score in a six-run inning that led to Oakland's 6-4 win over the Yankees, snapping their winning streak since the All-Star break at eight games.
The Yankees trailed 6-1 before a two-run homer by Derek Jeter and a solo shot by Mark Teixeira in the eighth got them within two. Jorge Posada batted with runners on first and second and none out in the ninth but grounded hard into a 4-6-3 double play. Then Jeter flied to fairly deep center to end it without another walk-off win.
"We're never out of a game,” Nick Swisher said. He, like his teammates, was convinced the Yankees would win despite the ugly seventh. "It's just the way this is going,” he said.
Not every day, however. Pettitte brought a two-hit shutout, seven strikeouts and a 1-0 lead into the seventh. The Athletics didn't exactly mash the ball but their hits found spots.
Rajai Davis' tying RBI single off Pettitte (8-6) went through the pitcher's legs into centerfield and Bobby Crosby bunted for a hit to load the bases with one out and knock out the lefthander. Aceves got Mark Ellis to pop up his first pitch in front of the mound for the second out, but Landon Powell's two-run single on an 0-and-2 fastball flared into left, setting the stage for three more runs.
And the Yankees could not find a way to solve A's rookie Gio Gonzalez (2-2), who brought a 9.33 ERA into the game and seemed an unlikely candidate to hold the hot Yankees to one run and two hits in 62/3 innings. Only Brett Gardner's RBI triple in the sixth dented the lefthander, who had allowed 11 runs in 22/3 innings Monday against the Twins.
"Who cares what he did the last time out? Today, he was great,” Jeter said. "We didn't get anything going.”
Pettitte had been equally good entering the seventh, but a leadoff double by Scott Hairston and a walk to Nomar Garciaparra started him off on the wrong foot.
After Pettitte got Jack Cust on a fly to center, capping a nine-pitch at-bat, Girardi visited the mound. Aceves was ready to go, but Pettitte stayed in.
"I just wanted to make sure he had something, that he felt good,” Girardi said. "I liked the way he was throwing the ball. He'd gotten a lot of ground balls. I liked our chances.”
Even after Davis and Crosby reached base to tie the score and load the bases, Aceves was on his way, and that's been almost as sure as a Mariano Rivera save this season. Aceves had allowed only three of 15 inherited runners to score in 24 appearances.
He got Ellis to pop to Teixeira and quickly got two strikes on Powell before throwing a fastball that Girardi said wasn't as high as it was supposed to be. "I tried to get it in, I didn't care about up,” Aceves said. The pitch was up and out, and Powell stroked it to left to make it 3-1.
Aceves gave up an RBI single to Adam Kennedy and a two-run double to Orlando Cabrera for a 6-1 deficit and plenty of boos as he gave way to David Robertson.
"Sometimes you give up a hit on 0-and-2 and it feels like a big blow,” said Pettitte, who was charged with four of the runs.
Still, there was time. In the eighth, Jeter hit a two-run shot to right-center, Teixeira (No. 25) homered into the second deck just inside the rightfield foul pole and Swisher blooped a two-out double against Michael Wuertz. Andrew Bailey then got Robinson Cano to fly out to deep rightfield.
Bailey walked Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon to open the ninth, but Posada, a late replacement after getting most of the day off, smacked a grounder right to second baseman Ellis to kill the rally.
"We've been pretty good for all nine innings this year,” Jeter said.
But not enough for nine straight wins.
