Chris Tillman was the right pitcher on the mound to restore some order.
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New York Yankees Jacoby Ellsbury (22) reacts as he removes his helmet after flying out to center field with a runner on first during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in New York, Thursday, Jul.
“Donny (Mattingly) said I was going to play for seven more years”, Suzuki said through an interpreter. First baseman Chris Davis missed Monday through Wednesday with the illness, and third baseman Manny Machado was out Wednesday. In each of his last four starts, he has gone seven innings, while only allowing one earned run.
“We’re gonna maybe be lucky to have as few as we have”, Showalter said. “I know I’m living right when they let him pitch that game”. The tall right-hander then set down 16 of his final 17 hitters.
Tillman struck out seven and walked two. NY 3B Chase Headley (personal) was not in the starting lineup for the second straight day, though Girardi said he expected to him to be with the team at some point Thursday.
“You’ve got to go out there and play every day, and it doesn’t matter who’s going to be here or who’s not going to be here because that’s all out of our control”, he had said before adding: “We obviously want to make a run together as a team”. He has a 7.48 ERA in four career starts on his birthday; he also has a 7.94 ERA since June 22. He also managed to avoid catching the stomach virus by taking extra precautions such as constantly washing his hands.
“This deal isn’t a good deal”, Tillman said. “I’ve seen it. It doesn’t look like fun”.
Starlin Castro’s run-scoring single in the second inning drew the Yankees within 2-1.
“I was real smart with Chris Tillman pitching”, Showalter deadpanned. “He’s been kind of our stopper the whole season and he proved that again today”.
Chad Green pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless ball. With one out, Jonathan Schoop reached on an infield single, and took third on Machado’s single.
With one out in the first, Didi Gregorius attempted to field Jonathan Schoop’s grounder on the backhand but missed, in what was charitably called an infield hit.
CC Sabathia will be seeking his 20th career win against the Orioles and his 15th with the Yankees.
Brad Brach worked a scoreless eighth and Zach Britton a flawless ninth for his 30th save. He allowed four runs and five hits with five strikeouts and four walks in seven innings. This one produced four runs, and the most runs since July 8. The loss snapped a four-game Yankees win streak, and provided an extra dose of reality for a team that still finds itself in fourth place in the AL East with a little more than a week until the August 1 non-waiver trade deadline.
“He didn’t give up a lot of hard-hit balls and you look up and there’s four runs on the board”, Girardi said. “San Francisco is going to be no easy task”. You can’t have a letdown because you lost today.
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Without Dellin Betances, who pitched in three of the last four days, the Yankees stretched Sabathia to the seventh inning, but he nearly immediately got into trouble. Green was recalled before the game from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and RHP Nick Goody was optioned to the minor league club. Baltimore CF Adam Jones (back spasms), OF Joey Rickard (right thumb) and C Matt Wieters (sore right foot) were not in the starting lineup. Bullpen coach Dom Chiti was in the dugout for the second straight day while pitching coach Dave Wallace (personal) was away from the team. “I thought CC had done a good job…and liked what he was doing”.
