It was a pathetic end to the first half for the Yankees this afternoon.
Joe Girardi’s crew headed into the All-Star break with a brutal 10-4 beating from the lowly Twins in the Bronx, as the Yankees committed two ugly errors, saw their ace get battered and squandered tons of offensive chances.
The Yankees go into the break – they’ve played 95 games, so it’s significantly past the mathematical mid-way point – at 51-44. They sit in fourth place in the AL East, 6.5 games behind the first-place Red Sox, pending Boston’s game this afternoon. They are three games behind the Rangers for the second wild card (the Rays currently own the first wild card), and they’re chasing the Orioles in that derby too.
The Yankees fell behind 8-1 early, as CC Sabathia served up a season-high eight runs in just four innings. Errors by Eduardo Nunez and Lyle Overbay made only three of the runs earned, but make no mistake – Sabathia did not pitch well, allowing eight hits, two walks and a homer.
The lefty finished off his disappointing first half in poor form, as he’s now 9-8 with a 4.07 ERA. That’s hardly an impressive three and a half months for the team’s marquee starter.
The Twins grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning on four singles off Sabathia, including RBI ones from Minnesota’s 8th- and 9th-place hitters. The next inning, with two outs and one on, Nunez committed a throwing error on what should have been Trevor Plouffe’s inning-ending grounder. Nunez’s error was bad, but instead of picking up his teammate, Sabathia promptly served up Aaron Hicks’ three-run homer, making it 5-0 Twins.