EXTRA PAINFUL
Yankees fall in 14th, lose CC, Sanchez to injury
Didi Gregorius is tagged out at the plate by Mychal Givens to end the 11th inning in the Yankees’ 7-3, 14-inning loss to the Orioles Friday night. But that wasn’t the worst of it as CC Sabathia and Gary Sanchez left the game with injuries. With the loss, the Bombers dropped to 4-4.
Eight games into a season that was predicted to be historic by some, the Yankees need to link several Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tubes to snap the team picture.
They started the season without Jacoby Ellsbury, lost Aaron Hicks before the second game and reserve outfielder Billy McKinney was gone following the third. Nobody can predict when any of those three will return from the disabled list.
Now, there is a chance CC Sabathia will join them on the shelf after leaving Friday night’s 7-3, 14-inning loss to the Orioles that was witnessed by 34,244 at Yankee Stadium with right hip soreness after four innings. If that wasn’t enough to fret over, Gary Sanchez left in the 14th with something wrong with his right leg. Want more? Brandon Drury was pinch hit for by Ronald Torreyes in the sixth, which was an indication something was bothering the third baseman. Finally, second base- man Tyler Wade left the game in the ninth when Neil Walker shifted from first to second base.
In his second start of the young season, and coming off an outing against the Blue Jays in which he allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings, Sabathia gave up three runs and three homers. Manny Machado tagged Sabathia twice and Chris Davis got him once.
“Hopefully he goes out and gives us a chance to win,’’ manager Aaron Boone said before the game of Sabathia, who gave up homers to Machado in the first and third frames. Davis homered in the fourth. “Make pitches and keep us in the game.’’
Horace Mann High School product Pedro Alvarez hit a grand slam off Jonathan Holder in the 14th to send the Yankees to their second straight loss and a 4-4 record.
If Aaron Judge hadn’t taken a home run away from Caleb Joseph for the final out in the top of the 13th, the Yankees would have been down at least a run with three outs remaining. However, Judge got his glove above the wall and came down with the ball.
With the Yankees trailing, 3-2, with one out in the eighth inning Didi Gregorius lofted a fly ball off a 96mph sinker from Miguel Castro that landed in the right-field seats. It was Gregorius’ third homer and 10th RBI of the season. Gregorius led off the 11th with a walk and stole second with Sanchez at the plate. At 3-2, Sanchez hit a hard ground ball to short for the first out and didn’t move Gregorius to third. Walker was walked intentionally to bring Torreyes to the plate.
He bounced into what was initially ruled a 5-4-3 double play, but the Yankees challenged the play at first and it was successful. Torreyes moved to second on defensive indif- ference. O’s pitcher Mychal Givens uncorked a wild pitch to Tyler Austin. Gregorius raced home, where Givens was blocking the plate. He took a toss from catcher Caleb Joseph and tagged Gregorius, who never got to the dish.
The Yankees challenged the call and the review upheld the call on the field, which sent the game to the 12th inning.
Aroldis Chapman ran into a bout of wildness in the ninth when he walked Chris Davis to start the inning and Anthony Santander with one out. After pitching coach Larry Rothschild visited the mound, Chapman’s first three pitches to Joseph, the No. 9 hitter, were balls. Joseph forced pinch-runner Craig Gentry at third for the second out.
With the count 0-2 on Trey Mancini, Boone and trainer Tim Lentych went to the mound to check on Chapman. After a discussion, Boone and Lentych left the mound and Chapman struck out Mancini to strand two.
Giancarlo Stanton opened the sixth with a sharp single to right off Orioles starter Kevin Gausman and the right-hander was replaced by former Yankees lefty Richard Bleier. He gave up a single to Gregorius and that brought the ice-cold Sanchez to the plate. Sanchez had one hit in 29 at-bats and was hitless in two at-bats in the game. That slide stretched to 1-for-30 when Sanchez’ grounder to short forced Gregorius. With runners at the corners Walker tapped a comebacker to Bleier that caught Stanton breaking off third.