Yankees comeback falls short after Mets score five in first

The New York Yankees found themselves in a position few would have expected with Andy Pettitte on the mound. They were down by five runs at end of the first inning and they couldn’t come all the way back in a 6-4 loss to the New York Mets at Citi Field.

Pettitte worked himself into trouble with two walks book-ended around a single, but managed to get two outs before any runs scored. Unfortunately, he couldn’t complete the inning before the Mets plated five. Justin Turner drove in two with a single and Ike Davis cleared the bases with a three-run homer that was tipped over the wall in right field by Nick Swisher.

Pettitte did a complete 180-degree turn after the first. He allowed two more hits over his next five innings and was pulled after six complete frames and 102 pitches. It was by far Pettitte’s worst outing since his comeback and one has to wonder if the 53-minute rain delay at the start of the game played a part.

The Yankees in the meantime were held in check by Mets starter Jonathon Niese. They didn’t get on the board until Alex Rodriguez‘s solo home run in the sixth, his twelfth dinger of the season and second in as many games. Andruw Jones launched a solo shot in the seventh inning off Niese, who went 6.1 innings scattering eight hits and walk for his fifth win of the season.

Cory Wade allowed an insurance run for the Mets in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eighth, the Yankees were able to cut the lead to 6-4 on a two-run by Robinson Cano, his fifteenth of the season. Cano is in the midst of a power surge with four homers in his last five games.

Down by two heading into the ninth, the Yankees would get a crack at Mets closer Frank Francisco who made headlines yesterday when he called the Yankees “chickens”. He explained last night the reference was meant to call the Yankees out because they complain about balls and strikes too much in his opinion.

Much like many of Francisco’s other save chances, this one was not exactly smooth. We are talking about a guy with a 4.97 ERA and eight clean innings in 31 appearances, so who knows why he thought chirping was a good idea.

Francisco issued a one-out walk to Raul Ibanez and Derek Jeter singled putting the tying runners on base. Curtis Granderson struck out on three pitches watching a 95-mph fastball go by for a called third strike. Mark Teixeira popped out to short to end the rally and the game.

The Yankees (41-28) have now lost three straight games and the ten-game winning streak is feeling like a distant memory. They also lost a game in the standings, as the Baltimore Orioles won their matchup with the Washington Nationals, cutting the Yanks’ lead in the AL East to 1.5 games (two in the loss column).

Ivan Nova (9-2, 4.32 ERA) takes the mound looking for his league leading tenth win of the season and sixth in a row. He faces Chris Young (1-1, 3.06 ERA) who is making his fourth start of the season.