It took nearly six hours, had a pair of wild rundowns, as well as two late-inning comebacks, but in the end, all the Yankees had to show for it was a 10-5, 14-inning loss to the Rays.
“We had our opportunities,” Derek Jeter said after the team’s third straight defeat Friday night, this one lasting 5:49, the longest game at the new Yankee Stadium.
“We just didn’t come through,” said Jeter, who went 0-for-7 for the first time in his 20-year career. “It would’ve been a good one to win. You’re out there all that time, but you’ve got to have a short memory.”
The Yankees and Rays will be back on the field barely 12 hours after this one ended.
After a terrific performance by the bullpen, the eighth pitcher to take the mound, little-used Chris Leroux (0-1) coughed up five runs in the final inning and the Yankees ran out of rallies.
Seemingly on the verge of victory more than once, the Yankees never closed the deal, as Heath Bell improved to 1-1 with 2 ¹/₃ scoreless innings.
There was first and second with no one out in the 13th, a threat that ended with a Jeter comebacker following an intentional walk to Jacoby Ellsbury.
They were in similarly good shape the previous inning, when Ellsbury singled and Bell made a throwing error on Jeter’s sacrifice attempt.
Carlos Beltran followed with a grounder to second for a seemingly routine double play. Instead, Jeter opted to get caught in a rundown, attempting to give Ellsbury a chance to score.
Ellsbury was then caught in another rundown between third and home, but stayed in it long enough for Jeter to get to third, with two outs. Bell then hit Mark Teixeira, bringing up Alfonso Soriano, who grounded to short.
In the 11th, Brian Roberts and Yangervis Solarte singled with two outs to put runners on the corners for pinch hitter Ichiro Suzuki, but he grounded to second.
Tampa Bay’s Wil Myers delivered the biggest blow, driving in Desmond Jennings for the game-winner.
“It was just a strange game,” Joe Girardi said. “Later on we weren’t able to get it done.”
The Yankees ended up 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and their bullpen in shambles after it had to be used for 9¹/₃ innings after Vidal Nuno lasted just 4²/₃ .
“There’s gonna be days like this,” the manager said.
Not many, as the loss negated what had been a dramatic comeback, as back-to-back homers with two outs in the bottom of the eight from Teixeira and Soriano off Joel Peralta to tie the game at 4-4.
But David Robertson put the Yankees back in a hole in the top of the ninth, allowing his first run of the season, when longtime Yankees-killer Evan Longoria singled to right on a two-strike pitch to drive in Ben Zobrist with the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Ellsbury’s two-out single scored Roberts, tying the game again. The inning ended when Ellsbury was picked off first by reliever Brandon Gomes, in a challenge won by Tampa Bay, as Ellsbury never got back to the base.
Ellsbury had four hits, but also lost a ball in the twilight in the fourth and Longoria wound up with a triple. The Rays scored twice in the inning.
“Just put this one behind us and get the one tomorrow … today,” Ellsbury said.
That might be easier said than done.
“I don’t know,” Jeter said. “It was just a weird game.”