Nova-lit Up
Yankees’ streaking starter loses cool in frustrating loss to Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — No longer is every game a referendum on the Yankees’ season. These days, each inning decides if they will mount a charge from off the pace to the top of the AL East, cop one of the two AL Wild Card tickets, trade players before Monday’s deadline or add names to help down the stretch.
“This time of the year, we need to win ballgames,” Brian McCann said following a 5-1 loss Friday night to the Rays in front of a quaint Tropicana Field gathering of 17,856 that included Hal Steinbrenner, who will cast the deciding vote whether to add or subtract players or stand still before Monday’s trade deadline. “That’s the way baseball is constructed.’’
The loss dropped the Yankees to 52-50 but didn’t cost them ground in the AL East, where they remain six lengths back of the first-place Orioles, whose lead over the second-place Blue Jays was shaved to a half-game.
Pitted against the worst team in the AL East, the Yankees didn’t put up much of a struggle. Ivan Nova didn’t get out of the fifth inning, and the lineup did very little against right-hander Jake Odorizzi.
After taking series from the Indians, Orioles, Giants and Astros this month, the Yankees will need to beat the lowly Rays on Saturday and Sunday to take two of three from a team that fell out of contention long ago.
Asked to deliver in his most important start of the season Nova flopped. Pitching for the first time at Tropicana since he walked off the mound in 2014 with a torn ligament in his right elbow that required Tommy John surgery, Nova gave up five runs and six hits (two homers) in 4 ¹/3 innings and fell to 7-6.
The homers were hit in the first inning by Brad Miller and Corey Dickerson.
“It was bad,’’ Nova said of his command. “I was behind almost every hitter. I was trying to give my team a chance to win the game. I didn’t do that.’’
On the way to the dugout after being hooked, Nova had words for plate umpire Laz Diaz, who fired back at the pitcher and brought Joe Girardi out of the dugout to talk to Diaz.
“I felt I made pitches and didn’t get the call,” said Nova, who fired his glove against the dugout wall but didn’t blame Diaz’s roaming zone for the loss.
Nor did he put it on hearing his name linked to trades all week.
“That is beyond me. Whatever happens happens,” said Nova, who gave up five runs and six hits. “I have no control over that.’’
As for Odorizzi, he also spent the week hearing he was on the move. Yet for the second time this season, the right-hander smothered the Yankees. In 6 2/3 innings, he didn’t allow a run and five hits. He is 5-5 with a 3.88 ERA in 22 starts.
“He was very good tonight,” McCann said of Odorizzi. “He put the ball where he wanted. He got quick outs. He was throwing the fastball at the top of the zone, and that is not easy to do.’’
The Yankees entered the game with nine hits in their last 55 at-bats (.164) with runners in scoring position and stretched that to 9-for-60 (.150) by going hitless in five clutch at-bats through seven innings. Mark Teixeira delivered an RBI single with a runner in scoring position in the eighth, and the Yankees threatened in the ninth but didn’t score. They finished 1for-9 in the clutch.
Two straight wins against the worst team in the AL East isn’t impossible, but with every inning a referendum on what Monday will bring, they are a must.