A LOST CAUSE
Cessa, Bombers' bats fall flat in stinker vs. Rays
Long before Brett Gardner morphed into the clubhouse voice of the Yankees, the spunky outfielder had a way of putting the best touch on whatever the issue of the moment was.
So, standing at his locker following an ugly 6-1 loss to the Rays in front of 42,716 irritable customers on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, Gardner’s words were quick and perfectly captured the bleak picture of what went down.
“When you fall behind early it can be frustrating. We weren’t able to climb back tonight. We got a few guys on base but weren’t able to string together good at-bats,’’ Gardner said of the Yankees who went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners. “It was kind of a disappointing game for us, to be honest.’’ On a lot of levels. Luis Cessa was the pick to take CC Sabathia’s roster spot when the veteran lefty went on the disabled list Monday. He was selected over Sonny Gray, a failed starter, Chance Adams, who has struggled with control issues at Triple-A, and Justus Sheffield, whom the Yankees believe needs more seasoning at Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre.
In 3 ¹ /3 innings, Cessa showed why he is a regular on TheBronx-to-SWB shuttle. Thanks to leaving too many pitches in the middle of the plate, especially his straight-as-rain fastball, Cessa gave up five runs and seven hits to drop the Yankees into a ditch far too deep to climb out of.
The loss cost the Yankees a chance to cut into the Red Sox’s 10-game lead in the AL East, but kept them 3 ½ lengths ahead of the A’s in the race for the top AL wild-card spot.
“I tried to be aggressive, they hit it and found some holes,’’ Cessa said of his fourth bigleague start, which resulted in him being optioned back to SWB after the game. “The home run was right in the middle.’’
A two-out, bloop single by Brandon Lowe in the second scored Kevin Kiermaier, and Miguel Andujar tied it with his 19th homer in the home half of the frame. Cessa loaded the bases in the third with two singles and a walk and gave up two runs. Mallex Smith upped the lead to 5-1 in the fourth with a two-run homer.
That was enough for Aaron Boone, who replaced Cessa (1-3) with Jonathan Holder, who combined with Sonny Gray (one run but four hits and three walks in 3 ¹/3 innings ) and Chad Green, to provide the Yankees a chance to climb back into the game.
Jake Faria, first of four Rays pitchers, walked two in the fourth and reliever Chaz Roe hit Neil Walker to load the bases with one out. Austin Romine struck out looking and Ronald Torreyes’ infield single that ap- peared to drive in a run was changed to an inning-ending out after a Rays challenge.
“I felt at times that we had a couple of chances to really make a game of it and who knows, maybe that changes things a bit,’’ Boone said. “We couldn’t get that hit tonight to push us over. We created some traffic but it makes it tough, kind of behind the eight ball and not just down a run or two.’’
The 75-45 Yankees and 61-59 Rays have split 14 games this season and finish the threegame series Thursday afternoon. For the Yankees to extend their streak to 13 consecutive home series wins against the Rays, Masahiro Tanaka has to pitch better than Cessa and the bats, which produced 38 runs in six games before plating four on Tuesday evening and one Wednesday, must be more productive.
If either fails to scale those low bars Gardner will be in front of his locker late Thursday afternoon delivering the same message he did Wednesday.