One, two, three flush.
Asked to protect a gem by CC Sabathia, Rafael Soriano picked the worst time to turn into Kyle Farnsworth.
Armed with a four-run lead in the eighth inning, Yankees manager Joe Girardi summoned Soriano after Sabathia pitched seven scoreless frames at the Twins.
Girardi had other choices, but in his mind, it was very simple to phone for Soriano.
“He is my eighth-inning guy,” Girardi said.
Who failed miserably.
The 5-4 loss in 10 innings in front of an announced crowd of 40,267 went to Boone Logan, but Soriano’s finger prints were all over the crushing defeat.
In two-thirds of an inning Soriano gave up four runs, a hit and three walks in the eighth inning.
He left David Robertson with a bases-loaded, two-out jam and Robertson watched Delmon Young dump a bloop double in front of a sliding Nick Swisher that cleared the bases and tied the score, 4-4.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” said Robertson, who hurt himself by going to a full count on Young. “I am disappointed in myself. I should have been able to get the out.”
What Soriano felt about flushing a victory for the Yankees and their ace was kept to himself because he never surfaced in a very somber Yankees clubhouse.
The flush job not only ruined Sabathia’s sparkling performance, it turned homers by Mark Teixeira (fourth in five games) and Andruw Jones (first as a Yankee) into dust.
Of course, after Teixeira’s three-run homer in the first and Jones’ solo blast in the second, the Yankees didn’t lay a glove on lefty Brian Duensing for the next five innings. Matt Capps added two more scoreless innings and Joe Nathan worked a perfect 10th.
“We got to pile on,” Teixeira said. “We can’t be satisfied with four runs in the first two innings.”
Always the ultimate team player, Sabathia easily glossed over the bullpen’s collapse.
“The bullpen is really the strength of our team,” said Sabathia, who allowed two hits, a walk and fanned six in seven innings. “Nine times out of 10 they will shut the door.”
Sabathia’s pitch count was at 104 in his second start, and Girardi figured it was time to hook his ace and go with Soriano, who had pitched well in two appearances.
“When you have a bullpen as good as ours it’s easy to turn the ball over,” Sabathia said.
Nevertheless, when that bullpen issues five walks and gives up five hits in three innings, it’s hard to watch.
“He got himself in trouble, it’s not like they whacked him around,” catcher Russell Martin said of Soriano, who believed a 3-1 pitch to Joe Mauer was a strike. Instead it was called a ball and forced in a run.
“Borderline pitch,” Martin said. “A pitcher wants it and a hitter doesn’t want it. It could have gone either way.”
As for Young’s three-run double, Swisher might have played it differently given a second chance.
“I wish I could have kept the ball in front of me,” said Swisher, who didn’t do that with a slide. The ball didn’t roll far away but enough of a distance to allow Mauer to score from first and tie the score. “It was an aggressive mistake, and I paid for it. CC pitched a helluva game; it definitely hurt.”
Girardi said Soriano is his eighth-inning guy. Thirty-five million for three years likely will get Soriano more than one chance to change the manager’s mind. But if he is more Farnsworth than the pitcher who led the AL with 45 saves a year ago, how long Girardi stays with him will be interesting to watch.