ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Andy Pettitte was saddled with a loss he didn’t deserve because the right fielder put him in a ditch too deep to escape from and the depleted Yankees lineup brought wet newspapers to face Alex Cobb.
Standing in the corner of a very quiet Yankees clubhouse following a 3-0 loss to the Rays in front of 19,177 at Tropicana Field, Pettitte was asked about Ben Zobrist’s two-out, two-run double that snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth.
“It wasn’t over the middle of the plate, not a good sequence,’’ Pettitte said of the 2-1 breaking ball the switch-hitting Zobrist drove to right-center. “It was not a terrible pitch. Obviously, it was the wrong pitch at that time I think.’’
Pressed to define the pitches leading to the killer double, Pettitte repeated “bad sequence’’ and left it at that.
Was he ticked at himself? Was there a disagreement between Pettitte and catcher Francisco Cervelli? Pettitte refused to elaborate, but he has the final say on what pitch is thrown when.
Of course, had right fielder Brennan Boesch not misplayed Kelly Johnson’s single in the fifth, the entire Zobrist at-bat would have been different.
Pettitte started the inning by hitting Jose Molina on the foot. Johnson, the No. 9 hitter, followed with a single to right that Boesch let get under his glove. Because Molina is easily the slowest runner in baseball, he only reached third.
Pettitte responded by fanning Desmond Jennings and Ryan Roberts and was one out away from getting out of the jam. Instead, Zobrist, who was 8-for-21 (.381) off Pettitte, laced a ball into the right-center field gap with first base open. Evan Longoria, the next batter, was 2-for-20 (.100) off Pettitte.
“The bottom line is that I had a chance to get out of the inning and I didn’t do it,’’ said Pettitte (3-1), who gave up three runs (two earned), seven hits and fanned 10 in six innings.
Sean Rodriguez opened the sixth with a homer off Pettitte and Cobb had a 3-0 lead that loomed a lot larger because of the way the 25-year-old right-hander was throwing.
“He didn’t leave anything over the middle of the plate,’’ Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Cobb (3-1), who worked 8 1/3 innings, allowing three hits.
With closer Fernando Rodney throwing in the bullpen, Rays manager Joe Maddon sent Cobb to the mound to start the ninth. After Brett Gardner singled with one out, Maddon incurred the wrath of the crowd for signaling Rodney into the game.
The angst grew when Ichiro Suzuki greeted Rodney with a single to right. That put Robinson Cano in the chair of potential tying run. But Rodney retired the Yankees’ best hitter on a ground ball to the right side on an 86-mph change up for the second out. He closed the game by getting Travis Hafner to pop up.
“He was locating very good and threw every pitch for a strike,’’ Cano said of Cobb. “You got to give him credit, nothing to say about it. They beat us tonight. You give them credit, they took advantage when they had runners in scoring position.’’