Yankees 1, Indians 2: Cleveland shuts down Yankees’ lineup to take the first game of doubleheader

The one good thing about this game from a Yankees’ standpoint is they have play another today, and at least they got it over with semi-quickly.

Jaime Garcia allowed just two runs, but the Yankees couldn’t take advantage. That’s because on the other side, Trevor Bauer and the Cleveland bullpen held the Yankees’ offense to just one run on five hits. That was enough for the Indians to take the first of a doubleheader with a 2-1 win.

The game started inauspiciously for the Yankees when Francisco Lindor led off the first with a single. After stealing second, Lindor went to third when Jose Ramirez singled two batters later. A passed ball then got by Gary Sanchez, allowing Lindor to score and Ramirez to move to second. The passed ball then hurt even more when Yandy Diaz singled to score another run. It was just the first inning, but it turned out that those runs would be pretty big.

The Yankees got on the board in the third inning. With one out in the inning, Aaron Hicks drew a walk. In the next at bat, Lindor made a nice diving stop, keeping Sanchez from an infield single. However, Hicks moved to second on the play. After a wild pitch moved Hicks up another base, Didi Gregorius doubled, bringing home Hicks and cutting Cleveland’s lead in half.

Following a lead off walk to start the sixth inning, Joe Girardi decided to go to the bullpen and remove Garcia. He allowed six hits and three walks in his five innings. There were no shortage of baserunners, but Garcia did manage to limit the Indians’ runs. That’s something that can’t really be said of his other starts as a Yankee. He still only lasted just five innings, though. Chad Green came in for him and threw a scoreless sixth inning.

Green threw another 1.2 inning, allowing just one runner on a Brett Gardner-helped double. He struck out seven in a really nice outing. Tommy Kahnle came in for him and went 1.1 innings himself. He allowed a couple runners, but kept the Yankees with a run.

The Yankees’ offense had chances in this game. They finished with five hits and four walks, they just couldn’t convert those into runs. Aaron Judge made a pinch hit appearance in the ninth, but that didn’t amount to anything.

Game two starts pretty soon, so at least there’s that.