The Yankees watched a late two-run lead disappear in a 6-2 loss to the Royals on Tuesday night. The final indignity came when Chris Carter was called out for running out of the basepath to avoid a tag, even though he was on the dirt, ending the game.
“It’s just a poor call,” Joe Girardi said. “I don’t know how he calls that and sees that, but obviously he did.”
Girardi called it “frustrating” that the heart of the order wasn’t able to come but it wasn’t as frustrating as the seventh and eighth innings.
New York led 2-0 heading into the seventh as Jordan Montgomery had only allowed one single through the first six innings. Lorenzo Cain homered with one out but Girardi left Montgomery in to get Eric Hosmer on a line drive to second.
Then Girardi called on Adam Warren to get out of the inning but Salvador Perez singled and Jorge Bonifacio homered to put the Royals ahead.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Montgomery said, pointing to how reliable the bullpen as been. “Win as a team, lose as a team.”
For his part, the Yankee skipper doesn’t regret making the call to the pen. “I don’t want somebody tired facing Salvador Perez,” Girardi said. “I don’t. So I made the move, it didn’t work but I don’t second guess myself.”
Montgomery had to settle for a no-decision despite his stellar performance. “It’s always tough to kind of give the lead away,” Warren said. “A game where you feel like your team just battled and just played great the whole game and so it’s definitely frustrating.”
Jonathan Holder entered in the eighth and was greeted with a Whit Merrifield home run. Southpaw Chasen Shreve gave up a two-run homer to Mike Moustakas which put the game away.
While Yankee fans have been used to Clippard, Betances, and Chapman at the end of the games, there shouldn’t be much concern about some of the other bullpen arms giving up home runs. “It’s unusual because they have been so good,” Girardi said. “They’ve done the job almost every time when we’ve called upon them. Tonight just wasn’t their night.”
Tonight, they can just tip their hats to the Royals.