GAME 67: Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda wasn’t at his best, and the offense couldn’t figure out A’s starter Scott Kazmir, as the four game win streak ended in a 5-1 loss.
Down 2-0 after two innings, New York’s only run came on a throwing error in the third. They had a chance that inning to make it interesting, but Alfonso Soriano grounded out with the bases loaded to end the threat.
Kelly Johnson led off the the sixth with a double to deep left center, but was nabbed at the plate trying to score on a weak grounder by Derek Jeter with a drawn-in infield. The Yankees didn’t have a baserunner after that.
John Ryan Murphy had a rough night behind the plate with two costly passed balls. Murphy got the start due to a last minute stretch of Mark Teixiera from the line-up, which forced Brian McCann to play at first base.
Manager Joe Girardi was kind in his assessment of the fourth-inning power outage:
“It is a good atmosphere to play in, I can tell you that, but it’s one of the older ballparks. Sometimes with older ballparks, you’re going to have some challenges.”
Here’s the box score and recap. The series and road trip wraps up tomorrow with an afternoon game, then it’s back to The Bronx to take on the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
MEMORY LANE: On June 14, 1933, Lou Gehrig‘s consecutive-game streak survives, even though he and manager Joe McCarthy are thrown out of a game. McCarthy is suspended for 3 games but Gehrig’s streak, now at 1,249, continues … On this date in 1969, the Yanks traded Tom Tresh to the Detroit Tigers for Ron Woods. (Sources: Today In Baseball History and Baseball Reference) … In 2011, the Yankees exploded for 6 runs in the second inning and cruised to a 12-4 victory over the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium. CC Sabathia went 7 to get the win, while the offense was led by home runs from Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Robinson Cano.
