As Yankees Look for More From Staff, Kuroda Offers More of the Same
What the Yankees needed Thursday was a little reassurance. A pick-me-up. Some shred of evidence that the cloudy future of their starting rotation was not as bleak as previously forecast.
What they needed was a good start.
They looked to Hiroki Kuroda, hoping his 5.28 earned run average in five starts this season was not a harbinger. But Kuroda could not deliver, leaving the Yankees feeling a bit more unsettled about their staff.
On a windless and warm night at Yankee Stadium, Kuroda allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings in the Yankees' 4-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
Kuroda was one of the best pitchers in the American League in the first half of last season, but lately he has looked more like the pitcher who went 2-6 down the stretch in 2013. The Yankees brought him back for $16 million, believing he would rebound from the fatigue-related struggles that marred his record a year ago, but the early returns have not been overwhelmingly favorable.
With C. C. Sabathia no longer throwing like his old self, Ivan Nova on the shelf and Michael Pineda raising questions with his injury problems (not to mention his 10-game suspension for using pine tar), the Yankees are increasingly looking toward Masahiro Tanaka as their lone reliable shutdown arm.
Manager Joe Girardi said before the game that he would tell his remaining starters not to try to overextend themselves making up for the absences in the rotation.
'Same advice,' Girardi said. 'This is your day and all you can really make up for is your day. Don't try to make up for someone else's day. We'll get Michael back and things will get a little bit more normal when we get him back. Guys are capable.'
But Kuroda did not put many Yankees minds at ease. Robinson Cano, showered with boos from the Bronx faithful yet again Thursday, ripped a run-scoring double down the right-field line in the first inning, putting Kuroda behind the mark from the get-go.
The Yankees quickly tied the score as Jacoby Ellsbury hit his first home run for his new team to lead off the bottom half of the inning. It was the first leadoff homer by a Yankees hitter since Derek Jeter against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 21, 2012.
The Yankees avoided the Seattle ace Felix Hernandez, who was scheduled to pitch Thursday but, because of Wednesday's rainout, was pushed back a day. Hernandez has a 1.18 E.R.A. in his last six starts at Yankee Stadium.
Instead the Mariners turned to Roenis Elias, a 25-year-old rookie who had never pitched in the Bronx (he was at Class AA a year ago). Elias did a fine Hernandez impression, tearing through the Yankees' order with an exploding fastball, a Frisbee curve and multiple different arm angles.
The Mariners stayed patient, and for the third consecutive start, Kuroda allowed at least seven hits and three runs. The Yankees again failed to muster much offense in Kuroda's support, but he was not exactly lights-out, either.
In the third, an error by Derek Jeter allowed the leadoff runner to reach base, and Cano - swinging on a 3-0 pitch - wound up bringing him around to score on a fielder's choice.
Seattle brought two more runs around in the fourth with a run-scoring single by Brad Miller and double by a Michael Saunders. Kuroda retired the last seven hitters he faced.
The Yankees trailed by two after a run-scoring single by Brian McCann in the sixth (the run was unearned because of an error by Cano). But Elias proved too much to handle, striking out 10 over seven innings with only six hits allowed.
INSIDE PITCH
Joe Girardi sounded optimistic about Michael Pineda's most recent injury, diagnosed as a Grade 1 strain of his teres major muscle, in his upper back. Girardi said a three-to-four-week timetable was 'pretty fair.' ... The broadcaster Bob Wolff, 93, was honored before the game with a plaque from the Guinness Book of Records recognizing him for having the 'longest career as a broadcaster' (74 years, 6 months).
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