Salty's Granny

All was going well for the Yankees in their  rally in the sixth and seventh inning to tie the game at 4 against the Red Sox. Cano had a two run double that should have scored three but Alex Rodriguez couldn't run well due to his hamstring problem. The Red Sox came back in the home seventh to take a commanding four run lead on Saltalamacchia's grand slam that put the Yankee offense to sleep the rest of the way. 

Hiroki Kuroda wasn't great again, getting the loss after allowing five runs total. The last and ultimate decisive run came in the seventh after Kuroda left the game. He gave up a single to lead off the inning and Girardi went to his depleted bullpen in search of possible answers. Instead, he got the worst outcome possible when his pen gave up three earned runs. Two of the runs were charged to Preston Claiborne who allowed the grand slam to Salty. Claiborne has now allowed nine earned runs in his last three appearances (1 1/3 innings). If I were Girardi I would steer clear of using the reliever in any big games this season as he clearly can't pitch big innings for his team when called upon. The Yankees offense did its job by tying the game in the seventh but couldn't do anything else as the bullpen let the team down again. Using Kuroda would have been a safer bet than using the bullpen in that spot. Kuroda allowed four runs to start the game in the first but allowed nothing else until Claiborne gave up his fifth run in the seventh inning on the decisive home run. With the Yankees loss and everyone else winning who are fighting for the wild card spot, the Yankees slide behind the Indians for 2.0 games back of the second wildcard. Only two weeks left for the Yankees to make a comeback. Winning at least one of the next two games against Boston could go a long way in determining if that happens.