Yankees pregame notes in Oakland

Here are the Yankees pregame notes on Friday night.  I won't be recapping the game tonight or do any postgame since it is a late game.  I figured I would provide these courtesy of the Lohud Yankees Blog and as always I throw my two cents in there. 

Consistency has become a real buzz word with these Yankees. I suppose that’s the case every year, but it seems especially true with this group. For the past two weeks, it’s been used to talk about the lineup, but the Yankees are still searching for it in the rotation as well.
Ivan Nova is no exception, he was so good last year and has struggled this year.  This should be a good night for him to get it going.

For a while there, Nova looked like the same guy the Yankees remember from last season, and even his last time out, Nova was able to use his big slider to finish with a career-high 12 strikeouts. Those strikeouts, though, came with five runs through six innings, and Nova has allowed at least five runs in four of his past five starts. There was one gem in the middle, but Nova’s been erratic.  He was better last game, he gave up a three run homerun that made it look worse.

“It’s location with him,” Joe Girardi said. “He gets up in the zone, he gets behind in the count, and then his fastball gets hit when it’s up in the zone. He had an awesome slider the other day and used it extremely well, but when he gets behind, he gets hurt.”

Nova hasn’t been in the league long enough to have much of a track record against anyone, but he’s never faced that Athletics, and today’s Oakland lineup has a total of five career at-bats against him (two by Josh Reddick, three by Seth Smith). The Yankees meanwhile, have won their past six games at the Coliseum and 10 of their past 11.

“I just think we’ve played well when we’ve played them,” Girardi said. “We’ve played pretty well out here as well. We’ve got to have that continue because you want to get on a roll, and that’s one thing that’s been hard for us to do this year.”  The Yankees are just a much better team and seem to like playing in Oakland.

Dave Robertson played catch yesterday and felt alright today. The Yankees plan to have him play catch again on Monday. “I think there’s some stiffness there,” Girardi said. “He’s had inactivity and hasn’t used that area in probably about 15 days. We have to be a little bit cautious in the beginning to make sure nothing’s there.”  The Yankees will be extra cautious here, this is where there depth really takes a hit as Joba having the ankle injury as he was coming back from Tommy John.  MO is out and now Robertson so they are down to Soriano, Boone Logan and then a mixture, they can't afford any more injuries to their bullpen.

 The Yankees still plan to have Brett Gardner begin swinging a bat on Monday.

 Girardi said it’s not likely either Robertson or Gardner will be back with the team before they get home a week from Monday. Robertson has said he’d like to be back by next weekend’s series in Detroit, but Girardi said he’s “not sure that’s going to happen.”

 Nova’s hamstring was a little tight after his last start, but Girardi said it didn’t affect any of the work he did between starts. Girardi considers it a complete non-issue. Nova came to the Coliseum yesterday to play catch.

 Good news on Manny Banuelos. Girardi said test on Banuelos’ sore left elbow showed no ligament damage — just like tests on Jose Campos’ elbow — so it doesn’t look like this is a Tommy John issue, just a sore elbow. Hard to know much more than that.  He has had a rough season so far but had a couple of good starts coming back from injury before this injury.

Oakland carries four left-handed relievers, and Girardi said that’s why Mark Teixiera was moved back into the No. 5 spot in the lineup. That leaves the Yankees with a right-handed or switch hitter between each of their left-handed hitters. “Clubs that have four left-handers, you really have to be careful how you construct your lineup,” Girardi said. “Could I change it? Yeah, but right now it’s what we’re going to do.”

 Obviously Girardi could put Nick Swisher fifth instead of Teixeira and have the same split-the-lefties result, but Swisher is hitting just .211/.295/.342 after left-handers this season. Teixeira is hitting .220/.259/.400 against them. Neither one has been a particularly good option this season. Ibanez, by the way, is hitting .200/.250/.267 against lefties.

Yesterday’s off day gave Teixeira yet another day to rest, but he doesn’t seem much different than he was a week ago. “I still hear him cough every once in a while,” Girardi said. “It’s not all the way gone. I wish it was, but it’s not.”

The Mets even up their four game series with the San Diego Padres

The New York Mets defeated the San Diego Padres by the score of 6-1 on Friday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing,NY. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched very well. The bullpen pitched a couple of hitless innings. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a couple of hits and Ike Davis had a couple of RBI. Anthony Bass started for the Padres and struggled, the Padres bullpen pitched well. 
Gee pitched seven innings in earning his fourth win of the season. He gave up four hits and a run with three walks and nine strikeouts. Tim Byrdak gave up a walk in his one inning and struck out one and Ramon Ramirez pitched a perfect inning. Bass lost his fifth game of the season, he pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and six runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Alex Hinshaw pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out two and Miles Mikolas pitched a perfect inning.

Mike Baxter had a hit and an RBI, Nieuwenhuis had two hits and an RBI and David Wright drew a walk. Lucas Duda had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit and an RBI and Davis had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk. Rob Johnson had a hit and drew a walk and Gee had a hit. Gee and Murphy each had a double and Duda hit a homerun. The Mets were 4-8 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Baxter had an outfield assist.

Will Venable had a hit and drew two walks, Yonder Alonso had a hit and Jesus Guzman had an RBI. Chase Headley drew a walk, John Baker had a hit and Andy Parrino drew a walk. Everth Cabrera had a hit, Venable had a double and the Padres were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.

In the first inning the Padres took a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Guzman. Duda hit a solo homerun in the second to tie the game at one. Baxter hit an RBI double in the third and Nieuwenhuis hit an RBI single to make it a 3-1 Mets lead. In the fifth inning Murphy hit an RBI double and Davis had a two run single to push the lead to 6-1. That was it for the scoring in the game.

The two teams have split the first two games of this four game series. The Mets improved their record to 25-21 and the Padres saw their record to drop to 17-30. The two teams will square off once again on Saturday afternoon. The series will include on Sunday afternoon for Mets banner day.

The Mets have a rough night in the rain as they lose to the San Diego Padres

The New York Mets were defeated by the San Diego Padres by the score of 11-5 on Thursday night. The game was played at Citi Field in Flushing,NY in front of a sparse crowd on a rainy night. Jeremy Hefner started for the Mets and was not very good. The bullpen wasn’t very good either for the Mets. David Wright led the Mets offense which he has been doing all season long. Eric Stults started for the Padres and pitched well, he just didn’t go deep into the game. The bullpen used a bunch of guys, two of them gave up four runs but the other three were very good. Cabrera led the offense although they got a lot of production up and down the lineup. 
Hefner lost his second game of the season pitching 3 2/3 innings giving up nine hits and six runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three. Ramon Ramirez pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and striking out two, Manny Acosta pitched two innings giving up five hits and three runs with a walk and four strikeouts and Robert Carson pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with a walk. Stults won his first game pitching five innings giving up four hits and an unearned run with a walk and two strikeouts. The Padres used five relievers to pitch four innings. They gave up five hits and four runs with three walks and five strikeouts.

Daniel Murphy drew two walks, Wright had three hits and two RBI and Scott Hairston had a hit. Lucas Duda had a hit and drew a walk, Ike Davis had a hit and two RBI and Andres Torres had a hit and drew a walk. Rob Johnson had a hit and Justin Turner had a hit. Wright and Turner each had a double and Wright hit a homerun. The Mets were 1-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Rottino, Hairston and Torres each had a stolen base.

Will Venable had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Cameron Maybin had three hits and two RBI and Yonder Alonso had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Jesus Guzman had two hits and two RBI, Chase Headley had two hits and an RBI and Nick Hundley had a hit and an RBI. Andy Parrino had a hit and two RBI, Everth Cabrera had four hits and Alexi Amarista had a hit. Cabrera, Venable, Alonso and Guzman each had a double. Hundley had a homerun. The Padres were 7-16 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Cabrera, Maybin and Headley each had a stolen base and Headley was caught stealing. Hundley had a throwing error.

In the second Rottino stole third base and scored on a throwing error to make it 1-0 Mets. In the third Venable hit an RBI double, Maybin hit an RBI single and Guzman hit a two run double to make it 4-1 Padres. In the fourth Venable hit an RBI double and Maybin hit an RBI single to make it 6-1 Padres. Wright hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 6-3 Padres. In the seventh Headley had an RBI single and Parrino had a two run single making it a 9-3 game. Alonso had an RBI single in the eighth to push the lead to 10-3. Davis had a two run single in the eighth inning cutting the lead to 10-5. In the ninth Hundley homered to make it 11-5 and that would be the final score.

The Padres won the first game of four over this holiday weekend. The two teams will play on Friday night at Citi Field. They will then play Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The Mets record fell to 24-21 and the Padres improved their record to 17-29.

The New York Yankees bats awake and they take the series from the Kansas City Royals

The New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals by the score of 8-3 on Wednesday night. The game was played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Andy Pettitte made the start for the Yankees and pitched well for the second straight game. He has won two out of his first three games. The Yankees offense was led by Alex Rodriguez who had a big game. Will Smith made his major league debut for the Royals and struggled. Eric Hosmer led the Royals offense. 
Pettitte pitched seven innings giving up seven hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out eight and won his second game of the season. David Phelps pitched two innings giving up two hits and a run with two strikeouts. Smith took his first loss and pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up six hits and five runs with a walk and a strikeout. The bullpen pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up two hits and three runs with six walks and four strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had three hits, Curtis Granderson had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Mark Teixeira had an RBI and drew three walks. Rodriguez had two hits and three RBI, Robinson Cano had an RBI and Nick Swisher drew a walk. Andruw Jones had a hit and an RBI and drew two walks. Jeter had a double, Granderson had a homerun and Rodriguez hit two homeruns. The Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Alex Gordon drew a walk, Billy Butler had a hit and an RBI and Jeff Francoeur had a hit. Alcides Escobar had two hits, Hosmer had three hits and an RBI and Mitch Maier had two hits and an RBI. Escobar and Hosmer each had a double. Butler and Maier each hit a homerun. The Royals were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Hosmer had a stolen base and Moustakas committed an error.

Granderson hit a solo homerun and Rodriguez hit a two run homerun in the first inning. The Yankees had a quick 3-0 lead. In the third Teixeira grounded out scoring a run and Rodriguez hit his second homerun a solo shot to make it 5-0 Yankees. In the fourth inning Butler had a solo homerun to make it 5-1. Maier hit a solo homerun in the fifth to make it 5-2. Teixeira drew a bases loaded walk in the fifth to make it 6-2, Cano grounded into a force out to make it 7-2 and Jones walked with the bases loaded to make it 8-2. In the ninth Hosmer hit an RBI double to make it 8-3 and that was the final score.

The Yankees won two out of three in the series and the last two games in a row. The Yankees improved their record to 23-21 and the Royals dropped their record to 17-26. The Yankees will get the day off on Thursday and begin a three game series in Oakland on Friday night.

The New York Mets win a matinee in Pittsburgh to win the series

The New York Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon. The game was played at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jon Niese made the start for the Mets and pitched very well. The bullpen did it’s job and Frank Francisco earned his 12^th save of the season. Kirk Nieuwenhuis led the Mets offense. Charlie Morton pitched pretty well for the Pirates but it wasn’t good enough on this day.

Niese pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up five hits and a run. He walked two and struck out five and picked up his third win of the season. Bobby Parnell struck out the only batter that he faced and Francisco pitched a perfect inning including two strikeouts. Morton lost his fifth game of the season. He pitched seven innings giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out a batter. Jason Grilli struck out the side in his one inning and Brad Lincoln pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Mike Baxter had a hit, Nieuwenhuis had two hits and an RBI and David Wright had a hit and an RBI. Lucas Duda had a hit and an RBI, Ike Davis had a hit and Ronny Cedeno had a hit. Rob Johnson had a hit. Wright had a double and the Mets were 2-6 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base. Davis committed an error.

Harrison had a hit, Hernandez drew a walk and Andruw McCutchen had a hit and an RBI. McGehee drew a walk, Navarro had a hit and Clint Barmes had two hits. Harrison had a double, the Pirates were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Duda had an RBI single in the first to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the fifth Nieuwenhuis had a sacrifice fly and Wright had an RBI double to make it 3-0 Mets. McCutchen had an RBI single in the sixth and that finished the scoring for the game.

The Mets won two out of three in the series. The Mets improved their record to 24-20 and the Pirates record dropped to 20-24. The Mets return home to take on the San Diego Padres on Thursday night to start a four game series.

The New York Mets defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2

The New York Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 3-2 on Tuesday night. The game took place at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched well. Frank Francisco pitched a clean inning to earn the save. James McDonald started for the Pirates and pitched well. Ronny Cedeno led the Mets offense and Harrison the Pirates offense. 
Dickey pitched seven innings giving up five hits and a run. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 11. Dickey earned his sixth win of the season. Jon Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run, Tim Byrdak faced one batter and got him out on a strikeout and Francisco pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout to earn his 11^th save of the season. McDonald pitched seven innings giving up four hits and a run. He walked two and struck out eight. Juan Cruz pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked one and struck out two and Chris Resop pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings. Cruz took the loss, his first of the season.

Mike Baxter had a hit, Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit and drew a walk and Lucas Duda had a hit and an RBI. Daniel Murphy drew a walk, Cedeno had two hits and drew a walk and Mike Nickeas had a hit and an RBI. Baxter had a double, the Mets were 2-6 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base.

Jose Tabata had a hit, Harrison had two hits and Andruw McCutchen had a hit and two RBI. Pedro Alvarez had a hit, Neil Walker had a hit and Rod Barajas had a hit. Harrison, Barajas and Tabata each had a double. Harrison had a triple and the team was 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. McCutchen had a stolen base. Alvarez committed an error and Tabata had an outfield assist.

In the second the Mets got on the board. Nickeas hit an RBI single to make it 1-0 Mets. In the sixth McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. Duda hit an RBI single and Murphy reached on an error to score another run and give the Mets a 3-1 lead. McCutchen hit an RBI single in the eighth to make it 3-2 but that was as close as it would get.

The two teams have split the first two games of their three game series. The rubber game will be played on Wednesday night. The Mets improved their record to 23-20 and the Pirates record dropped to 20-23.

The New York Yankees hold on and defeat the Kansasi City Royals 3-2

The New York Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals by the score of 3-2 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched well. The bullpen did a good job mixing and matching. Luke Hochevar pitched pretty well for the Royals. The Yankees didn’t have a lot of hits but scattered them and got a couple with runners in scoring position. 
Hughes pitched six innings giving up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out seven in earning his fourth win of the season. Cory Wade and Boone Logan pitched a scoreless seventh giving up a hit and striking out one and Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada pitched a perfect eighth inning. Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth giving up a hit but earning his third save. Hochevar for the Royals pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up six hits and three runs with three walks and eight strikeouts. He lost his fifth game of the season. Jose Mijares pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings.

Derek Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Curtis Granderson had an RBI and drew a walk and Robinson Cano had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, Raul Ibanez had a hit and Mark Teixeira had a hit. Russell Martin drew a walk and DeWayne Wise had a hit. Cano had a homerun and the Yankees were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Rodriguez had a stolen base.

Eric Hosmer had a hit and drew a walk, Jeff Francoeur had two hits and an RBI and Alex Gordon had a hit and drew a walk. Falu had a hit, Alcides Escobar had a hit and Quintero had a hit and an RBI. Quintero and Gordon each had a double. Francoeur hit a homerun and the Royals were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Francoeur committed an error.

Quintero hit an RBI double in the third inning to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Francoeur hit a solo homerun in the fourth to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the fourth Cano hit a solo homerun to cut the lead in half. The Yankees in the fifth broke out a little with runners in scoring position. Jeter had an RBI single and Granderson had an RBI groundout to give them a 3-2 lead. The Yankees would hold on and win by the score of 3-2.

The Yankees and Royals have split the first two games of this three game series. The rubber game will be on Wednesday night. The Yankees improved their record to 22-21 and the Royals record dropped to 17-25. The Yankees offense is still not there but maybe this will get them going. At times it just takes a couple of little things to relax you and get you going on a hot streak.

The Mets lose a tough one in Pittsburgh after an error cost them the game winning run

The New York Mets were defeated by the Pittsburgh Pirates by the score of 5-4 on Monday night. The game took place at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Johan Santana started for the Mets and he pitched ok. The bullpen did a good job for the Mets. Eric Bedard pitched ok for the Pirates and their bullpen did a really good job. David Wright and Ronny Cedeno led the Mets offense with half of their hits. Andruw McCutchen led the Pirates offense with a couple of hits. 
Santana pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. Bobby Parnell pitched to one batter and struck him out, Tim Byrdak pitched to one batter and struck him out and Jon Rauch took the loss pitching one inning and giving up an unearned run. He struck out one and it was his third loss of the season. Bedard pitched five innings giving up six hits and four runs with three walks and he struck out four. The Pirates used four relievers to pitch four innings. They gave up two hits and no runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Hughes picked up his first win and Hanrahan picked up his tenth save of the season.

Andres Torres drew a walk, Justin Turner had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk and Wright had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Lucas Duda, Vinny Rottino each had a hit and Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit. Cedeno had two hits and an RBI, Mike Nickeas drew a walk and Mike Baxter drew a walk. Cedeno had a double. The Mets were 2-7 and left nine men on base. Wright committed two errors and Nieuwenhuis had an error.

Jose Tabata drew a walk, Harrison had a hit and McCutchen had two hits and an RBI. Pedro Alvarez had a hit and an RBI, Neil Walker had a hit and Clint Barmes had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Michael McKenry had a hit and two RBI, Bedard had a hit. Harrison, McCutchen, Alvarez and Walker each had a double. McKenry had a homerun. The Pirates were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

In the second inning Cedeno hit an RBI double giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Turner hit a two run single to push the lead to 3-0 and Wright hit an RBI single making it 4-0. In the fourth McCutchen hit an RBI double and Alvarez hit an RBI double to make it a 4-2 game in favor of the Mets. In the seventh McKenry hit a two run homerun to tie the game at four. In the eighth Barmes hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 Pirates and that was the final score. Walker led off the inning with a routine fly out that Niewenhuis and Baxter who just came into the game made an error on and the runner went all the way to third and then the sacrifice fly to win the game came.

The Mets record dropped to 22-20 and the Pirates record improved to 20-22. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night

The Yankees continue to struggle as they lose at home to the Royals

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Kansas City Royals by the score of 6-0 on Monday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY on a rainy night. The building didn’t have many people in it and those that were there didn’t have anything to cheer about. The building just like the team was dead. The Yankees are now a 500 team in last place tied with the Boston Red Sox. They are five games behind the division leading Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees continued to struggle with runners in scoring position and Hiroki Kuroda wasn’t great but he battled on this night. 
Kuroda pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs with three walks and four strikeouts. He took his sixth loss of the season. Cody Eppley pitched to one batter and retired him, Clay Rapada pitched an inning giving up a run and a walk and he struck out one batter and Freddy Garcia pitched 2 1/3 innings giving up five hits and two runs with a walk. Felipe Paulino won his second game of the season and both have come against the Yankees. He pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up six hits and no runs with two walks and he struck out eight batters. Tim Collins pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk and he struck out two and Aaron Crow pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Curtis Granderson drew two walks and Robinson Cano drew a walk. Alex Rodriguez had two hits, Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez each had a hit. Russell Martin had two hits. Chavez, Rodriguez, Martin and Teixeira each had a double. The Yankees were 0-13 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Granderson had an outfield assist.

Jarrod Dyson drew a walk for the Royals. Eric Hosmer had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Billy Butler had three hits and drew a walk and Mike Moustakas had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk. Jeff Francoeur had a hit and two RBI, Alex Gordon had two hits and drew a walk and Alcides Escobar had two hits. Chris Getz and Irving Falu each had a hit. Hosmer, Gordon and Falu each had a double. Moustakas and Francoeur each hit a homerun. The Royals were 1-12 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Dyson had a stolen base.

In the first inning Moustakas hit a two run homerun giving the Royals a 2-0 lead. In the third inning Hosmer hit an RBI double to make it 3-0 Royals. The Royals would extend the lead in the seventh inning on a Francoeur two run homerun making it 5-0. The final run of the game scored in the eighth inning. Garcia threw a wild pitch and Falu scored the run. 6-0 was the final score.

The Yankees saw their record drop to 500 at 21-21. The Royals saw their record improve to 17-24. The Yankees are now tied for last place in the AL East. They haven’t been in last place this late in a season since 1990. The Royals have now won three of the five games the two teams have played this season. The two teams will play two more games Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The Yankees will try to even the series up at one on Tuesday night.

The Yankees let one slip away and lose the series to the Reds

The New York Yankees lost to the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 5-2 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx,NY. The Yankees had won the first game of the series on Friday night and lost on Saturday afternoon. They had a two run lead in the seventh inning with their ace on the mound and lost it. This was a very bad loss for the Yankees who have been struggling. Sabathia overall pitched well but he had a bad inning in the seventh and that cost the Yankees the game. The Yankees offense didn’t do much but they did face Johnny Cueto who is one of the better pitchers in the game. 
Sabathia pitched seven innings giving up three runs on six hits. He walked five which is the problem including three in a row in the seventh inning to give up the lead. Sabathia did strike out six batters. Sabathia suffered his second loss of the season and second in a row. Cory Wade pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts. Boone Logan pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Rafael Soriano pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one. Cueto won his fifth game pitching seven innings and giving up eight hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out five. Aroldis Chapman earned his first save with a perfect inning striking out one. They used two relievers to get through the eighth and they struck out one and didn’t give up a hit.

Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk, Robinson Cano had two hits and drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had two hits and two RBI. Eric Chavez had a hit and Chris Stewart had two hits. Cano had a double and Ibanez a homerun. The Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Alex Rodriguez committed an error and Stewart had a passed ball.

Drew Stubbs had a hit and drew a walk for the Reds. Joey Votto drew two walks, Brandon Phillips had a hit, RBI and drew a walk and Jay Bruce had a hit. Ryan Ludwick had three hits and three RBI. Todd Frazier had a hit, Ryan Hanigan had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Zach Cozart had a hit and drew a walk. Ludwick had a double and a homerun and Hanigan also had a homerun. The Reds were 1-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Frazier was caught stealing and Valdez committed an error.

The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when Ibanez hit a two run homerun. The Yankees had a 2-0 lead. In the seventh inning Ludwick and Hanigan hit solo homerun to tie the game at two. Sabathia gave up a single and three straight walks to make it 3-2 Reds. In the ninth Ludwick hit a two run double to make it 5-2 Reds and that would be the final score.

The Yankees after winning the first game of the series lost the last two games. They lost two out of three and will now take on the Kansas City Royals in a three game home series. The Yankees record dropped to 21-20 on the season and the Reds improved their record to 21-19.

The New York Mets salvage the final game of the series in Toronto

The New York Mets defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 6-5 on Sunday afternoon. Dillon Gee started for the Mets and pitched well. The bullpen was up and down. Mike Baxter led the Mets offense. Henderson Alvarez started for the Jays and wasn’t good but the bullpen was. The Jays offense was led by Jose Bautista. 
Gee pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs with four walks and six strikeouts. Bobby Parnell pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout, Tim Byrdak faced one batter and got him out and Frank Francisco earned his tenth save of the season. He pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk but struck out the side. Gee earned his third win of the season. Alvarez suffered his fourth loss of the season pitching five innings and giving up nine hits and six runs. He walked two and struck out three. The Jays bullpen pitched four shutout innings giving up three hits, four walks and they struck out six.

Andres Torres drew a walk, Baxter had three hits, an RBI and drew a walk and David Wright had two hits, two RBI an drew a walk. Lucas Duda drew a walk, Daniel Murphy had a hit and an RBI and Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, RBI and drew two walks. Ike Davis had a hit and an RBI, Ronny Cedeno had two hits and Rob Johnson had two hits. Baxter, Wright, Niewenhuis, Johnson and Davis each had a double. Baxter had a triple and the Mets were 4-17 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Nieuwenhuis and Cedeno each committed an error.

Kelly Johnson had a hit for the Jays. Yunel Escobar drew two walks, Bautista had three hits and two RBI and J.P. Arencebia had two hits. Eric Thames had a hit and an RBI, Ben Francisco drew a walk and Colby Rasmus had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Yan Gomes had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. Arencebia and Thames each had a double. Bautista hit a homerun and the Jays were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. Arencebia had a passed ball.

Wright had a two run double in the first to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Nieuwenhuis had an RBI double to make it 3-0. Baxter hit an RBI triple in the second to make it 4-0 Mets. Gomes hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 4-1. Bautista hit a solo homerun in the third to cut the lead to 4-2. In the fifth Murphy hit an RBI single to push the lead to 5-2. Davis grounded out to score another run and make it 6-2 Mets. In the seventh Bautista hit an RBI single cutting the lead to 6-3. Thames hit an RBI double and Rasmus an RBI single in the eighth to make it a 6-5 game. That would be it for the scoring as the Mets hung on for the win.

The Mets salvaged the final game of the three game series. The Blue Jays won two out of the three games. The Mets improved their record to 22-19 and the Jays saw their record drop to 23-19. The Mets will head to Pittsburgh to start a three game series with the Pirates on Monday night.