Ivan Nova finally registered a loss, and the Yankees lost the rubber game of this three game series against Jake Arrieta and the Orioles on Wednesday night in the Bronx.
Arrieta was absolutely outstanding tonight, tossing eight shutout innings while striking out nine Yankees. He only allowed five hits, and showed outstanding command of the strike zone as he didn't walk a single batter and threw 76 of his 111 pitches for strikes (68%). You have to give credit where credit is due, and Arrieta deserves all the credit in the world after turning this outing in tonight.
Alex Rodriguez was the only Yankee to reach base more than once, while Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, and Raul Ibanez each pitched in with a hit apiece. The rest of the offense combined to go 0-for-16. Despite that this offense is clearly capable of more, I'll chalk this one up to a fantastic pitching performance by a quality young starter.
Opposite Arrieta, Ivan Nova had his worst outing of the season. He pitched into the seventh inning, but allowed nine hits, walked four O's, and served up two homers on his way to allowing five runs. Nova's command has been solid throughout the season, as he had a sub-2.00 BB/9 entering tonight's game. However, he had a lot of trouble finding the strike zone tonight, throwing just 64 of his 114 pitches for strikes, and those that did find the zone were hit and hit often.
Clay Rapada, Cory Wade, and Freddy Garcia combined to toss 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. It was nice to see Garcia post a few zeros on the board, and I suspect that he'll be used in this fashion for the foreseeable future.
Comment of the Game: YankeesJets. In the future, please rec comments for comments of the game. It makes it a whole lot easier to go through comments and pick out the best ones.
Tomorrow, the Yankees will take on the Royals in Kansas City, where David Phelps will make his first career start against Danny Duffy.