Yankees Rally Falters in 7-6 Loss to Padres

The New York Yankees fell just short of their third straight walk-off victory Friday night, as the San Diego Padres managed to hold onto a 7-6 victory despite a ninth inning rally.

For the third consecutive contest, the New York Yankees mounted a ninth inning comeback on Friday night. Unfortunately, this latest rally died with the tying run just 90 feet away and one of the Yankees’ hottest hitters at the plate in Brett Gardner.

The loss dropped them to 39-40, once again back below the .500 mark. It seems like every time New York is on the cusp of a winning record this year, they start a four or five game losing streak to create another hole for themselves.

Nathan Eovaldi had the start for the New York Yankees Friday, and was knocked around for six earned runs in 4.1 innings, walking three while striking out just two. He has been a completely different pitcher in June, allowing 31 runs in 30.1 IP this month (9.20 ERA) after a solid start to the season. The strikeouts have completely dried up (5.64 K/9 in June), but the big problem has been the long ball (3.56 HR/9).

Eovaldi allowed multiple homers for the fourth time in his last five starts Friday night. After giving up three runs in the first, Eovaldi was taken deep by rookie infielder Ryan Schimpf the next inning for his first career home run, a solo shot that extended San Diego’s lead to 4-1. Wil Myers added a two-run blast to right-center field in the fifth, which knocked Eovaldi from the game. 

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Brian McCann homered the next inning to give the Yankees their second run. He also led off the ninth inning rally with a walk. Matt Thornton plunked Starlin Castro to put two runners on for pinch-hitter Alex Rodriguez with no outs.

A-Rod poked a ground ball past the diving second baseman to score McCann. That hit actually tied Rodriguez with Dave Winfield for 19th on the all-time hits list with 3,110, and Winfield was at the game to see it. Pretty neat.

Didi Gregorius stayed hot with a double to right that brought in Castro, cutting the lead to 7-4. A ground out by Aaron Hicks plated A-Rod, and a wild pitch by Padres reliever Brandon Maurer allowed Gregorius to score.

Carlos Beltran added a pinch-hit double despite the sore knee that has kept him out the past few games. Unfortunately, the top of the Yankees lineup couldn’t get him in. Jacoby Ellsbury advanced Beltran to third with a ground ball to second, but Gardner made the last out on a grounder to short.

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While the loss was certainly a letdown, perhaps the saddest part of the night was how disappointed A-Rod looked at losing the opportunity to play the field for the first time since this season. With the Yankees rallying, manager Joe Girardi told Rodriguez to find a glove, and the expression of giddy excitement on his face was priceless. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see it.