No excuses for Burnett, it was a bad outing
Yankees' AJ Burnett walks back to the dugout after being taken out of the game in the seventh inning. (May 19, 2010) Credit: Kathy Kmonicek
A.J. Burnett's explanation was simple: He just has to do better.
The Yankees pitcher didn't mince words or offer excuses for his latest forgettable start, in which he allowed six runs and nine hits in last night's 10-6 loss to first-place Tampa Bay.
After coming off the best start of his career (4-0 with a 1.99 ERA), the righthander now posts a 3.86 ERA after losing two of his last three games against Boston and, now, the Devil Rays.
"I've gotten hit more and I've given up more runs," said Burnett, who allowed nine runs in a 9-3 loss to the Red Sox on May 9. "So it's just a matter of not having those innings where it slips away and being more consistent out there.
"I think when I started off I was consistent, first inning through seven. And the past couple games I've had a slip. And we have to minimize that, definitely."
Despite giving up a home run to leadoff batter Jason Bartlett in the first, the real trouble for Burnett began in the fourth when he gave up consecutive hits to B.J. Upton, Hank Blalock and John Jaso to start the inning. Jaso's ground-rule double to leftfield drove in two runs, followed by an RBI double by Carl Crawford. After walking Ben Zobrist, Burnett surrendered an RBI single to Evan Longoria.
"That was the only inning I ran into trouble, I think," said Burnett, who allowed six stolen bases, including four that inning. "They stole quite a few bases that inning and that was the only inning that really got away from us."
Burnett threw 116 pitches (67 for strikes), walked four and struck out four.
"I walked way too many tonight, threw too many balls, didn't get ahead of too many guys, but it all seemed to all happen that inning," he said.
" . . . You look up every time in the dugout and you see that inning with the four-spot. But you try to stay out there as long as you can and give them as much as you can."
Burnett gave the Yankees length - lasting 62/3 innings - but by then, the damage already had been done.
Catcher Francisco Cervelli said the tempo between he and Burnett was "really good," but "we walked a couple guys and we got in trouble when we start to walk people."
Burnett said he felt well last night and took full responsibility for the Devil Rays' boldness on the basepaths.
"That's the pitcher's responsibility," he said. "And I'm normally pretty good at holding guys on and changing my times up. And I wasn't doing that . . . And they capitalized on it for sure . . . I felt decent all night. It just got away from me, that's all. I couldn't stop it."
