ANAHEIM, Calif. — Forget A.J. Burnett’s disastrous first inning last night. The fact he couldn’t get anybody out in the seventh hurt the Yankees exponentially more.
The right-hander had everything he could have wanted. The Yanks had just scored six runs and taken the lead against the Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS, and here was Burnett sailing into the bottom of the seventh, having retired seven of the last eight hitters he faced.
And then, Burnett allowed a leadoff single to Jeff Mathis and walked Erick Aybar. Both of the runners ultimately scored as part of the three-run inning that gave the Angels their final lead in the Yanks’ 7-6 loss.
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“It’s tough to watch because your team just came back after you had been battling the whole game,” Burnett said. “These guys, I’ve been pitching behind them all year — you know what they’re about. You’re hoping they explode. Then they do, and I do that, so it’s kind of tough to swallow.”
All told, Burnett allowed six earned runs on eight hits and three walks, the worst performance from a Yankee starting pitcher this postseason.
For awhile, it appeared as if he might not survive a first inning in which he surrendered four runs on four hits and a walk. Burnett’s most unpardonable sin of the inning was walking leadoff hitter Chone Figgins.
Then came a double from Bobby Abreu. Torii Hunter’s ensuing two-run double put the Angels on the board. Vladimir Guerrero followed with an RBI double and Kendry Morales an RBI single. It was 4-0 before Burnett finally recorded his first out, retiring Maicer Izturis. Juan Rivera hit into an inning-ending double play, finally ending the first-inning torment for the Yanks.
However, Burnett was about to get rolling. He got Aybar to hit into a double play, killing a second-inning threat. In the fourth, he retired Aybar for the final out with a runner at second base. In the fifth and sixth, Burnett was never seriously threatened.
Manager Joe Girardi admitted he toyed with the idea of removing Burnett to begin the seventh.
“But he was throwing the ball so well,” Girardi said. “He had only thrown 80 pitches. And we just kind of liked what we saw from him, and we stuck with him.”
In his first two starts this postseason, Burnett was wild, but got results. Last night, pitching before a hostile crowd — he had a 4.59 ERA on the road this season, a full run higher than at the Stadium — he couldn’t make his rough first-inning start a mere footnote.