STAN’ THE FAN
Giancarlo Ks 5 more times, booed lustily in Yankees’ ugly loss
A dejectedejected Giancarlo Stanton walks to the dugout after striking out to end the game in the Yankees’ 8-7, 12-inning loss Sunday. PAGES 52-53, 48-49
Bases loaded, no one out in the 12th inning of a one-run game, with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton coming up.
What seemed like a setup for a YES Network Yankee Classic instead became the finale of a particularly ugly weekend in The Bronx, where the Yankees lost nearly as many games to the Orioles as they did players to the disabled list.
Judge, facing Baltimore closer Brad Brach, hit a comebacker that the pitcher turned into a 1-2-5 double play. And Stanton followed with yet another strikeout, his fifth of the afternoon in an 8-7 loss that took 4 hours, 48 minutes to play.
“I had an opportunity to put us up and not go into extra innings and then had a chance in extra innings,’’ Stanton said after his 0-for-7 performance which resulted in another round of boos from the Stadium crown. “I’ve just got to battle, find a way and try to put the ball in play — which hasn’t worked out. It will be all right.”
For now, though, the Yankees are limping into Boston, where they’ll face the streaking Red Sox at Fenway Park on Tuesday.
In the meantime, they’ll stew on this loss, their third in four games at home to the Orioles — and one in which they blew a 5-0 first-inning lead.
“It’s tough, especially with five runs in the first,” Judge said. “We weren’t able to put them away, so you look back on some missed opportunities.”
Like in the 10th, when Didi Gregorius reached on a one-out double after center fielder Adam Jones lost sight of the ball.
Brett Gardner followed with a liner to left, but Craig Gentry raced back and made a lunging catch. Baltimore manager Buck Showalter followed by choosing to walk Judge intentionally to get to Stanton, who grounded to third on the next pitch.
Stanton was booed after almost every at-bat and he did his best to shrug it off.
“They’re not gonna cheer,” Stanton said. “What do you expect?”
Of course, when the Yankees took a 5-0 lead against Mike Wright Jr. in the bottom of the first, it didn’t seem like Stanton — or anyone else — would need to worry much about trying to extend the game.
But Jordan Montgomery gave up runs in the second and third and then a tworun homer to Danny Valencia in the fifth. He allowed 10 hits in just 4 ¹/3 innings and forced manager Aaron Boone to go to Domingo German, just recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
German allowed a run in the sixth and then Anthony Santander hit a 3-0 pitch out for another two-run homer to give the Orioles their first lead in the seventh.
Austin Romine — filling in again for Gary Sanchez as he nursed his calf injury — delivered his third hit of the game in the bottom of the inning to tie the score. With runners on the corners and two out, pinch-hitter Didi Gregorius flied out to shallow right to end the threat.
The Yankees bullpen, which has not lived up to its reputation for most of the season’s first week, delivered four straight scoreless innings before Adam Warren faltered in the 12th.
A one-out walk to Pedro Alvarez was followed by a Tim Beckham strikeout, but Santander singled to right and Gentry singled to left to put Baltimore ahead again.
“I can’t put a guy on with a walk there,” Warren said. “I almost pitched my way out of it.”
Still, the Yankees appeared to be primed for a comeback after Romine and Gregorius walked to open the 12th and Gardner reached on a bunt that Brach couldn’t handle to bring up Judge.
“That’s the situation you want,” Judge said. “I hit it right back at him. Right where you don’t want to hit it.”
But as more than one Yankee mentioned, the season is only 10 games old and they like where they are.
“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in both those guys, even if maybe they’re not going right at that particular time,’’ Gardner said. “Even a time like today where they don’t come through, I’ll put them right back in there tomorrow and feel confident they’ll get the job done.”