TANAKA FALTERS IN LOSS TO O’s
Yankees flop in all phases in bitter loss to Orioles on cold night
Aaron Judge had already gone deep in a second straight game and later hit a line drive for a foul ball that was close to another home run.
So when Brett Gardner was working a long at-bat against Orioles closer Brad Brach, trying to get on to bring Judge to the plate as the tying run with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Aaron Boone had one thought before the Yankees lost 5-2 on another chilly night in The Bronx.
“Looking at the lineup, down three there in the ninth, if we can get it to [Judge], we’ve got a chance, right?” the manager said. “That’s kind of what you hope for in that ninth inning.”
Instead, Gardner went down swinging.
“You always want that last at-bat, especially in that situation, a close game like that,’’ Judge said. “You just want that opportunity and I didn’t get it tonight. You’ve got to move on and get ready for [Friday].”
There were plenty of reasons the Yankees were in that desperate situation.
Masahiro Tanaka, who cruised through the first six innings, faltered in the seventh and allowed a game-altering two-run homer to Adam Jones.
Chad Green, one of the few bright spots in a bullpen that has yet to find its groove, had a terrible outing, surrendering three hits and a pair of runs in Baltimore’s fiverun seventh in relief of Tanaka.
And a lineup that had pounded Tampa Bay pitching for 18 runs over the previous two games, went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Trailing by three runs, the Yankees got the tying run to the plate with two out in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Miguel Andujar popped out to end the seventh and with the bases loaded an inning later, Neil Walker hit a comebacker — both against side-armer Darren O’Day.
Boone said he considered pinch-hitting Brandon Drury for Andujar in the seventh, but sent the rookie up there before making the move to Drury in the ninth. It was an attempt to get to Judge and perhaps Giancarlo Stanton, but Drury struck out before Gardner came to the plate and made the final out.
The Yankees had just one hit off Orioles starter Andrew Cashner until Judge homered to give them a 1-0 lead with two outs in the sixth.
But the Yankees were mostly silent otherwise, as Cashner surrendered just the one run on two hits in six innings.
As for Tanaka, after a stretch in which he retired 15-of-16, Jonathan Schoop opened the seventh with a single to center.
Jones followed by hitting a home run off the top of the left-field wall — just over a leaping Stanton — to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead.
“To give up runs after we just scored runs is frustrating,” Tanaka said through an interpreter. “I gave up a run at the worst time.”
Green only made things worse, surren- dering a single to Colby Rasmus, an RBI double to Anthony Santander and a twoout, two-run single to Trey Mancini.
“[Green] missed some spots with his fastball down in the zone,’’ Boone said. “It’s one of those bumps along the way for him.”
But it also raised the bullpen’s ERA to 6.65 on the season. Nevertheless, Boone insisted he’s still not concerned by the lack of results.
“I’m not, because I’m not seeing any downtick in the stuff,” Boone said. “I just think they’ve gotten us a couple times. … There are no red flags to me as far as drop in stuff, where you might think guys might be this time of the year.”
And the offense wasn’t able to recover.