The Yankees dropped the second game of their series against the Giants on Saturday, a 2-1 contest that took 12 innings to complete.
After the Giants announced that Johnny Cueto would start the game, swapping with Jeff Samardzija in effort to end the team’s six-game losing streak, it seemed likely the Yankees would need to rely even more heavily on their run prevention than usual. They did so for most of the game, with starter Ivan Nova allowing just one run and striking out seven over as many innings.
Nova was rocky early, getting into trouble in each of the game’s first three innings but somehow escaping unscathed each time. In the second, he allowed a leadoff single to Mac Williamson before registering a pair of outs. Ramiro Pena then sliced a ball into the left-center field gap, though. As Williamson circled the bases and attempted to score, a beautiful relay throw from Didi Gregorius nailed him at home, ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless. Nova would similarly get into hot water in the third when he allowed a pair of singles to start the frame. A Brandon Belt strikeout and Buster Posey double play later, Nova had danced out of trouble yet again.
The Yankee offense was able to strike first in the fourth when Williamson bobbled a Mark Teixeira single in right field. The error allowed Gregorius, on base with a single of his own, to come all the way around from first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. That lead held until the fifth, when Williamson atoned for his mistake by serving a ball over the left-field wall for a game-tying home run.
Nova cruised from then on, allowing just one walk and no hits after the homer, but the offense routinely found ways to bungle scoring opportunities. The biggest letdown of the game came in the bottom of the tenth, when the Yankees seemed poised to walk off with the victory before letting the Giants off the hook. Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner drew a pair of walks to start the frame, and following a Jacoby Ellsbury sacrifice bunt and Carlos Beltran intentional walk, the team had the winning run just 90 feet from home with only one out. Brian McCann promptly popped up the first pitch he saw, though, and Starlin Castro followed that up by flying out to right field to leave the bases stranded.
After Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances had been exhausted, the Yankees turned to Anthony Swarzak in the 12th. A Trevor Brown double and Williamson RBI single plated the go-ahead run, and the game was won for San Francisco.
The Play: Williamson’s go-ahead single in the 12th (+.281 WPA)
Williamson had a roller coaster of a game Saturday. His error in the fourth inning allowed the sole Yankee run to score, but he more than made up for it. First, he homered in the fifth to tie the game, then he shot this single up the middle to plate the game-winning run in the 12th.
Top Performers
Yankees: Ivan Nova (7 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 7 K, 2 BB)
Giants: Mac Williamson (2 for 5, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI)
The Quote
“It hurts because we had opportunities to score some runs and we weren’t able to do it. To lose a game 2-1 in 12 innings is really difficult.” -Joe Girardi on another frustrating loss
The Highlight: The defense erases a run in the second
The Giants had plenty of scoring opportunities early on. They nearly scored in the second, when Pena served this hit into the left-center field gap. Gardner was able to stop the ball with his bare hand and fire it toward the cut off man as Williamson rounded third. Gregorius put his throw on the money, hitting McCann’s glove just as Williamson slid. McCann applied the tag and the Yankees escaped the inning with no damage done.
Up Next
The Yankees will try to win the series against the Giants on Sunday when they send Nathan Eovaldi to take on San Francisco’s Samardzija. It will be Eovaldi’s second start since his brief stay in the bullpen. In his return to the rotation last Tuesday, Eovaldi threw five and 1/3 innings of one-run ball against the Orioles. Samardzija, meanwhile, has struggled as of late to the tune of a 5.44 ERA over his last seven starts. Game time is 1:05 pm.
Lead photo: Noah K. Murray / USA Today Sports