ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Maybe you can brush off a brutal outing from the ace in May, June or July and rationalize Hall of Famers get spanked.
Eventually, though, the stud is asked and paid to win a crucial game in the twilight of the schedule during a pennant race.
Last night the Yankees sent Hiroki Kuroda to the mound at Tropicana Field and expected him to dominate the Rays or provide them a chance to win.
Kuroda did neither and was handed a 7-2 defeat that opened a crucial three-game series against the Rays. In six innings Kuroda gave up seven runs and nine hits, four of which landed in the seats.
Having a five-game winning streak stopped didn’t cost the Yankees ground in the AL wild-card race because the A’s lost too. The Yankees are 3 1/2 games back of the second back-door ticket into the postseason.
It also didn’t cost them in the AL East race because Boston lost, too. They still are six games behind the Red Sox and Rays (who are in first place by percentage points).
In the middle of May, Kuroda was 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in nine starts and had taken over from CC Sabathia as the staff ace.
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Last night he took an 11-8 record and an AL-leading 2.41 ERA to the mound.
Thanks to Jose Lobaton’s three-run homer in the second that erased a 1-0 Yankees lead and back-to-back, bases-empty homers from Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce in the third, the Rays punished Kuroda early. Forgotten were the good feelings surrounding the club that started the game having won 10-of-12 and crawled back into the AL East race and the wild-card chase. Ben Zobrist added a leadoff homer in the fifth.
“Obviously, the team is on a roll and I couldn’t contribute today, [that] is disappointing,’’ Kuroda said.
Even at this late date when every game is a referendum on the Yankees’ playoff chances, a stinker can be flushed from the memory bank.
Yet, it’s not just one bad game for Kuroda. In the previous outing against the Red Sox a week ago in Fenway Park, the right-hander allowed five runs (three earned) and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
If this is the beginning of a Kuroda slide, the Yankees are headed for a dark October for the first time since 2008.
Naturally, manager Joe Girardi looked at Kuroda’s performance in a different light.
“It was one of those nights he didn’t have his stuff,’’ Girardi said. “It’s one game and you have to turn the page.’’
The four homers Kuroda served matches a career high. Not since June 30 when Kuroda gave up three homers to the Orioles in hitter-friendly Camden Yards had he surrendered a homer. That was a span of eight starts.
Sabathia, the former ace who struggled locating the fastball in the first half of the season and has issued 11 walks in the last 11 1/3 innings in his previous two outings, goes tonight when the Rays throw David Price.
For as much grief as Phil Hughes has received for a poor year, Sabathia’s 4.83 ERA is just slightly lower than Hughes’ 4.88.
“We need him to step up,’’ Girardi said of Sabathia, who is 2-0 with a 6.35 ERA in the last two starts.
Just because Kuroda was punished doesn’t guarantee the Yankees won’t play meaningful games in September. It doesn’t mean the final month will be used to say so long to Mariano Rivera and be highlighted by empty seats in The Bronx and television viewers ignoring YES on the remote.
Still, beginning Wednesday night in Toronto, the Yankees need Kuroda to pitch like the staff ace instead of a punching bag. Because if he doesn’t, the bags that cart bodies will replace the ones hit by fists.