Yankees Lose Ground In AL East, Fall Season-High 7 Games Back
BALTIMORE (CBSNewYork/AP) — Derek Jeter would hate to slip into retirement without one last foray into the postseason, yet with every defeat comes the realization that his final year in the majors could end before October.
The Yankees lost their third straight Monday night, falling hard against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles 11-3 to drop a season-high seven games out of first place.
New York (61-57) has only 44 games left to make up the deficit.
"This is the team we have. We've got to go win with the guys that we have," said Jeter, who will retire after this season.
"You can't sit around and be negative. We have to stay optimistic," the Yankees' 40-year-old captain added. "You've got to have a lot of faith in your teammates and then you're going to get the job done."
With each loss to the Orioles, the deficit increases. There are two games left in the series that concludes Wednesday.
Before the game Monday, manager Joe Girardi spoke about how important it was to win this series. That task got a whole lot harder after the lopsided defeat.
"It's not the way you want to start," he said. "We need to win (Tuesday)."
The Yankees are three games out of a wild-card spot.
"We have 40-something games left," Yankees outfielder Carlos Beltran said. "We just need to find a way to turn this around."
Much of the satisfaction the Orioles derived from the win was dampened by an injury to third baseman Manny Machado, who had crutches laying near his locker after he sprained his right knee in the second inning while hitting a broken-bat grounder to shortstop. He dropped on his back in the batter's box and needed help getting off the field.
Machado was replaced by Chris Davis, who came up in the fifth against Chris Capuano (1-3) with a man on and New York leading 3-2. With the count full, Davis hit a drive over the right-field scoreboard for his 21st home run.
"Chris Davis was the big at-bat in the game," Capuano said. "Obviously Chris Davis is the guy you don't want to beat you. I would've liked to have that pitch a little more down in the zone, probably expand it a bit, but I left it up and it caught too much of the plate."
Nelson Cruz connected with a man on in the seventh and Jonathan Schoop added a three-run shot in the eighth to turn the game into a rout.
Bud Norris (10-7) gave up three runs and five hits in five innings, and the Orioles won despite committing three errors — including two on one wacky play.
With the score tied at 1 in the top of the second inning, Carlos Beltran walked and took third on a single by Chase Headley. With Martin Prado at the plate both runners broke. As Headley got caught in a rundown, Beltran strayed off third. He headed home after Machado got the ball, and the third baseman's throw hit Beltran in the helmet. After Beltran crossed the plate, Headley came around to score after the ball bounced off the backstop.
Beltran and Headley received credit for a double steal, and Machado and Norris received errors on the play — Norris for dropping the ball in a desperate bid to tag the sliding Headley at the plate.
New York got one hit after the second inning, a double by Jeter.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (shoulder) will come off the DL and start Wednesday. Also, RHP Masahiro Tanaka (right elbow) threw from 90 feet 50 times Monday. Girardi said the next step for Tanaka will be throwing 120 times.
Orioles: SS J.J. Hardy missed a second straight game with a sprained left thumb.
UP NEXT
Yankees: Rookie RHP Shane Greene makes his second career start against Baltimore. On July 12, he blanked the Orioles on four hits over 7 1-3 innings.
Orioles: LHP Wei-Yin Chen vies for his 13th win, a single-season career high. He's 2-3 with a 5.76 ERA in eight starts against New York.
GOING DEEP
Yankees: For only the fourth time in 17 games, New York failed to his a home run.
Orioles: Baltimore leads the majors with 150 home runs and is 34-10 when connecting more than once.
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