Sabathia and sloppy defense led to the loss to the Twins
CC Sabathia delivering a pitch.
The Yankees (51-44) lost their last game before the All-Star break, 10-4, to the Minnesota Twins after two errors and surprisingly shaky pitching from CC Sabathia. In his career, prior to this afternoon’s game, Sabathia had 17 wins, four complete games, 184 strikeouts and a remarkable 2.96 ERA, which makes this start an anomaly.
Only three of Sabathia’s eight runs were earned, as a result of Eduardo Nunez’s throwing error in the third and Lyle Overbay’s error in the fourth, but Sabathia still allowed eight hits and two walks in four innings pitched.
This has been Sabathia’s worst “first-half” (the All-Star break is not technically the middle of the season) of the season as a result of the 4.07 ERA that he has so far. His second highest pre All-Star break ERA was 3.86 in 2009, but he ended that season with a 3.37 ERA and 19 wins. He should be able to pitch much better in the second half because he usually improves after the All-Star break.
Nunez, who has been error prone throughout his career, made his fifth error in 35 games in the field this season. Nunez has made four errors in 32 games started as shortstop this season. In 2012, Nunez committed a combined seven errors in 26 games played at shortstop, third base and second base. Overbay, who has been one of the best defensive first baseman throughout his career, committed his third error of the season in 77 games played at first base (He has also started games in the outfield and at DH this season).
The two offensive standouts for the Yankees were Ichiro Suzuki and All-Star Robinson Cano. Ichrio was 3-5 with two runs batted in and his sixth homer of the season. Cano, who was 2-4 with an RBI, is now on a nine-game hitting streak. However, the Yankees still stranded nine runners during the game.
It is disappointing that the Yankees did not win the final two games of the series against the Twins. They had won won the previous five, four at Target Field and one on Friday, and the Yankees had been 17-5 against American League Central opponents before the last two losses to the Twins (39-53).
The losses against the Twins as well as the two losses to the Royals in the middle of the homestand are ones the Yankees needed because the schedule gets more difficult after the Midsummer Classic. They play 10 games in 10 days against the Red Sox (56-39), Rangers (54-41) and Rays (55-41). The Rays have won 10 of their last 11 games and have been able to take advantage of inferior competition unlike the Yankees.
The Bronx Bombers basically did not show up for the last game of the series. They need to be rejuvenated by the four days off so that they will be ready for Boston. Even though Phil Hughes had 10 strikeouts against the Twins on Saturday, Brian Cashman should look into getting an upgrade at catcher for him because his is not reliable enough and would do better for a National League team.
Pinstripe State of Mind 