The Cleveland Indians took down the New York Yankees Tuesday night, 5-4 in the 16th inning. The game was filled with ups and downs for the Yankees. Rookie pitcher Branden Pinder (0-2, 3.12 ERA) took home the loss as the last pitcher available in the Yankee bullpen.
Right-hander Austin Adams (2-0, 3.09 ERA) went home the winner of the 16-inning marathon, thanks to Indians outfielder Michael Brantley coming through with the walk-off RBI single.
Michael Brantley's walk-off single in the 16th inning.
The Yankees were down 2-0, and riding a 31 inning scoreless streak, when Stephen Drew made it a one-run game in the sixth inning with one swing of the bat, launching a solo home run to right field to make it a 2-1 game. Two innings later, Carlos Beltran tied the ballgame with a solo bomb to right field.
The game would go to extras, where Chase Headley made it a 4-2 game in the 10th inning with a bases loaded single that scored Beltran and Didi Gregorious. In the bottom of the 10th, Andrew Miller would blow his first save all season on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Santana and a one-out single by catcher Yan Gomes. The game was tied 4-4 and continued for more extra inning baseball.
Both bullpens were rock solid as they didn't budge for several innings. Cleveland had a bases loaded opportunity in the 14th inning but couldn't come through. It wasn't until the 16th inning when Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor collected back-to-back singles with one out that the Indians capitalized. All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley would take the 1-0 fastball by Pinder and smash it so hard it raced past Gold Glover first baseman Mark Teixeira into right field.
The Yankees have to be frustrated with this result, as they came back and took the lead but still wound up losing the game. The loss keeps the Yankees on the downward skid as they are currently riding a four-game losing streak.
The Toronto Blue Jays won again tonight, as they keep their upward skid going since acquiring Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. Toronto has won nine-straight games, including 12 of their last 13. Since the Blue Jays acquired Tulowitzki on July 29th, Toronto has gone from fourth place and eight games back, to second place and only a half game back of the Yankees.
The Yankees need to find a way to get back in the win column and start hitting again. In the last four games the Yankees have scored a combined five runs. In the 10 previous games the Yankees scored 90 runs.
According to Mike Mazzeo of ESPN on Twitter, the Yankees 1-5 hitters in the lineup (Ellsbury, Gardner, Rodriguez, Teixeira, McCann) went 1-for-19 on Saturday, 0-for-17 on Sunday, and 1-for-28 tonight. If the Yankees want to get back on the right track they need the top of the lineup to be better than that, because any team can’t win if the top of their lineup is playing like that, really simple.
Luis Severino pitched great tonight, getting the no decision. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. He reached the 95-pitch mark in six innings, giving up seven hits in those innings. He battled very well,in this start, something he didn’t have to do as much in his first start.
Indians starter Carlos Carrasco pitched a gem, going eight innings allowing two runs on four hits. The right-hander didn't walk a single batter and struck out eight, but just like Severino he didn't factor in the decision.
Andrew Miller said this after the game, "It stinks. I put us in a terrible situation. I had a chance to close out the game, didn't do it. I'm frustrated. I feel bad I let us down with the game won. I screwed it up."
Tomorrow night the Yankees look to get back on the right track with C.C. Sabathia on the hill, trying to outduel Danny Salazar and keep the Yankees in first place.