Yanks lose 5-run lead, fall in Texas:
Sabathia, Robertson can’t hold Yank leads
ARLINGTON, Tex. — CC Sabathia and David Robertson needed to be better on Wednesday night — and both standup veterans took responsibility for their poor performances on the mound. Despite being gifted leads of 4-0 and 10-5, the Yankees were let down by Sabathia and Robertson in what ended up being a bad 1210 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Sabathia gave up seven runs on six hits in 4.1 innings. The 37-year-old southpaw surrendered a pair of homers to lefty hitters Nomar Mazara (two-run shot) and Ronald Guzman (three-run shot) during a 36-pitch fourth — both on hanging sliders.
“You score 10 runs and lose a game, that’s unacceptable,” said Sabathia, who struggled to command his cutter and slider all night long.
Sabathia gave up nine runs combined in his first six starts, but has given up 15 runs in his last three outings. This after Masahiro Tanaka and Domingo German were both ineffective in Texas — as the Bombers lost two out of three to see their eight-series win streak come to an end.
Robertson, meanwhile, has a 14.73 ERA in his last four appearances.
Brought i n to bail out an ineffective Chasen Shreve with two on and one out in the sixth, the 33-year-old righty opened his outing by issuing back-to-back walks to ShinSoo Choo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which forced in a run.
Robertson was a bit unlucky in that Choo may have gotten away with a check swing that could’ve been strike three during his atbat, but Robertson couldn’t rebound afterward. He then missed location with a firstpitch fastball that aggressive hitter Jurickson Profar ripped for a bases-clearing double.
Just like that, a 10-7 lead had turned into an 11-10 deficit.
“I pitched like crap,” Robertson said. “There’s nothing else to say about it. I’ve been very poor. I haven’t throw n a lot of strikes. I’ve walked guys, and all my walks score. I ’d like to turn things around and get some clean innings going, but I’m going through a rough patch right now and I need to clean up my act.”
Boone wanted to stay away from Chad Green, who had thrown two innings on Monday. So he turned to Shreve and Robertson, neither of whom could do the job.
The first-year manager also stuck with Dellin Betances for more than one inning again.
And all four times Boone has done that this season, it hasn’t worked. Betances followed a clean seventh by getting a bit unlucky in the eighth.
Betances struck out Delino DeShields to
open the frame, but his strike three pitch got away from Austin Romine, allowing DeShields to reach on the wild pitch. Betances then made an errant pickoff throw to first, allowing DeShields to advance to second on the E1 before he went on to steal third.
Betances struck out Choo, but Kiner-Falefa flared an RBI single into right to give the Rangers an important insurance run. Boone explained that Green would’ve entered the game had the Yankees been able to tie it. But that never happened.
“I know you guys keep asking me about that,” Boone said of continuing to use Betances in multiple-inning appearances when it hasn’t worked. “But Dellin’s in a really good place, and I would argue in the second inning he was still in a really good place. And we needed length out of him because it got a little sideways from us in the middle innings.”
The Yankees could get Tommy Kahnle (shoulder) back as soon as Friday, which would certainly help their beleaguered bullpen. Justus Sheffield, their top pitching prospect, also returned from the minor-league disabled list (shoulder) and threw five shutout innings for Triple-A Scranton on Wednesday in Pawtucket. The 22-year-old lefty allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five. Maybe he can contribute later in the year.
For the Bombers, pretty much every one of their pitchers not named Luis Severino and Aroldis Chapman has struggled at times. The obvious move will be to add a starting pitcher, with names like Cole Hamels, Patrick Corbin, Madison Bumgarner and James Paxton on the minds of their fans.
Their offense continues to do heavy damage, with Gleyber Torres playing like their next superstar in the making. The 21-year-old hit four homers during the three-game series and has eight overall. Aaron Judge hit a 471-foot bomb himself, while the struggling Didi Gregorius and the recently red-hot Neil Walker also went deep. The Yankees have hit 21 homers in their last five games — but only have three wins to show for it. A lot of nights they can get away with poor pitching because of their mighty bats. This wasn’t one of them.