Masahiro Tanaka was protecting a 2-1 lead. There were two outs in the fourth inning Thursday and one of the best put-away starters in the majors was ahead of Brandon Moss 0-2. The righty had thrown just 51 pitches.
It was easy to believe at that moment Tanaka would go very deep, protect an overtaxed bullpen. But Moss singled after seeing four more pitches, Yoenis Cespedes singled also on a 0-2 count and, although Jed Lowrie struck out to end the inning, he saw nine pitches. That was 16 extra pitches for Tanaka after Moss was down 0-2.
The A’s didn’t score in the fifth either, but made Tanaka throw 26 pitches and the burden of those two innings moved Joe Girardi to remove Tanaka after six innings and 104 pitches.
Why explain this in a game the Yankees would ultimately win 2-1? Because they lost a battle along the way by having to use their three best relievers yet again. And even in defeat, the A’s underscored they have the offense the Yankees used to have — but don’t any longer.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin had said before the game his lineup recognizes the value of turning each at-bat into baseball Chinese water torture — that the results may not be evident initially, but will as the opponent cracks from mental and physical stress.
The A’s wore the Yankees staff out over the first two games to rally to win. They didn’t rally this time. But boy did they wear out the Yankees. Though they drew just one walk and scored just one run Thursday, Oakland nevertheless saw 157 pitches. The Yanks have not thrown that many pitches walking one or fewer and allowing one or fewer runs since June 18, 1993.
Baseball is episodic, played daily. So, yes, the Yankees go on a 10-game, 10-day, three-city trip (which ends in Oakland) with a much-needed victory, but with their pen dragging.
This is all a way to circle back to a Yankees offense that isn’t creating a margin of error so the pen doesn’t have to pitch so often and under such pitch-to-pitch duress.
For nearly two decades, the Yankees’ offense was built on the long at-bat, on getting starters out earlier, on getting into pens, so that over the course of games and series, the opposition’s pitching was in a constant state of overuse.
This Yankees lineup too frequently is the master of the easy inning. This was the 26th game the Yankees had two or fewer walks (by comparison, Oakland has 11). Aside from Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira, few wage long at-bats. Pitching is better throughout the game, the Yankees’ hitting is worse and opponents are challenging Yankees hitters in the strike zone with something close to impunity.
“It [working the count more] is something we definitely want to do and something we have to get better at,” hitting coach Kevin Long said. “But that is not really our personnel’s strengths. How much better can we get at it with this personnel? A little better.”
That is damning. The Yankees spent nearly half-a-billion dollars last offseason, mainly on offense — though thank goodness for them, they put $175 million toward the season-saving Tanaka. Yet they began Thursday tied for 18th in runs with the Mets. They spent all that money to distance themselves from last year, from too much Vernon Wells and Chris Stewart. Yet after 59 games, they have the same 240 runs in 2014 that they had in 2013 — and are actually four games worse in the standings.
They cannot get to the playoffs like this, trying to copyright the 2-1 or 3-2 triumph. Everyone knows it. Not with three members of the rotation out. Not with the workload mounting on the pen — Dellin Betances is second in the AL in relief innings, Adam Warren fifth.
This offense was supposed to induce fear, especially at Yankee Stadium. Yet they scored just 16 runs in a seven-game (2-5) homestand. The Yanks have now scored two or fewer runs in 20 of 59 games.
To get better, the Yankees need two of the big offseason investments — Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran — hot and to keep Teixeira healthy. But Beltran — who returned to the lineup Thursday — and Teixeira have chronic arm injuries that make it, at best, dubious they will both avoid the DL the rest of the way. McCann, whose power swing was supposed to be ideal for the short porch, had the same slugging percentage (.372) as Dodgers slap hitter Dee Gordon.
But this also has to be a group effort like the Red Sox had last year en route to a championship in which, pretty much 1-to-9, they battled each at-bat. Because at this moment, the Yankee lineup is making life too easy for opposing pitchers, which makes it all the more difficult for Yankees pitchers.