Andy Pettitte is just getting over a sore elbow. Now, he may have a sore neck after watching balls sail out of Yankee Stadium last night.
The Rays pounded Pettitte, belting three home runs as the Yankees fell to the division leaders, 8-6, before a crowd of 45,483. The loss was the Yankees’ third in a row and fourth in five days, dropping them to a season-high five games behind the Rays.
Pettitte was the latest Yankees pitcher to stumble. After a blazing beginning to the season by the starting staff, it is now cooler than Ted Williams’ head. The Yankees have gotten sloppy starting pitching in three of the last four games.
“I didn’t pitch good and neither did A.J. [Burnett],” Pettitte said. “You hold these guys to six innings, three runs, four runs we’re going to win this ballgame. You just can’t give up seven runs as a starting pitcher.”
Pettitte scuffled from the start last night. He gave up a double to Jason Bartlett to start the game, then scored on a base hit by Carl Crawford. Ben Zobrist made it 3-0 before most fans even bought their first hot dog with a two-run blast to right field.
He gave up another homer in the fourth, this a solo shot by B.J. Upton and his night was finished when Carlos Pena took him deep in the sixth to make the score 7-4.
It was Pettitte’s first loss of the season. He dropped to 5-1, and watched his ERA balloon from 1.79 to 2.68. The 37-year-old lefty entered last night’s game having allowed just one home run in his first seven starts.
“It’s frustrating because I felt the guys are really battling,” Pettitte said. “You feel like if you just hold them down somewhat. Giving up seven runs is not holding them down somewhat. I feel like if I’m terrible I can hold them to seven. That’s what’s frustrating about it.”
He gave up nine hits, six earned runs and walked two while striking out three. He left the game in the sixth without recording an out.
Pettitte’s woes follow those of Burnett, who gave up six runs in the first game of the series, and Phil Hughes, who surrendered five runs in Monday’s game with the Red Sox. The entire pitching staff gave up 14 home runs during the seven-game homestand after allowing just 13 home runs in the first 12 home games of the season.
Yankees pitchers have allowed seven or more runs in four consecutive games for the first time since April 20-23, 2007.
They now turn to Javier Vazquez to face the Mets tonight, his first start in nine days.
Add in the bullpen’s problems this week and suddenly pitching looks like a problem for the Yankees. Only CC Sabathia gave them a strong starting outing this week.
“Every team’s going to go through it,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s baseball, too. That’s why you look at the big picture. You don’t look at if you win 10 in a row or if you lose seven out of eight, you can’t do that. You have to concentrate on the big picture and try to turn it around and win a series this weekend.”
The Yankees got something going in the third inning when they tied the game, 2-2 and had men on second and third with no out and the middle of the order coming up. But Mark Teixeira grounded out, then Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano both struck out to end the inning.
“That, to me, was the tipping point of the game,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Teixeira, Rodriguez and Cano went a combined 2-for-12 with six strikeouts.