Yankees 1, Royals 5: Soggy bats fail again

A Yankees lineup featuring Travis Ishikawa, Austin Romine and various other garage sale finds faced off against the league leader in home runs allowed in Jeremy Guthrie, but as should have been expected the futility of the lineup won out. The Yankees were only able to muster a single run and four baserunners off of Guthrie in his matchup against Phil Hughes.

It would be a short night for Hughes on a count of the rain, but he made sure to fit a home run into his four innings of work, as he gave up a big fly to 2012 non-Home Run Derby participant Billy Butler in the second inning. Mike Moustakas and David Lough would add doubles in the frame to stake the Royals to a 2-0 lead. The Yankees would manage only two singles against Guthrie before the fifth inning was halted for the rain delay.

After a one hour delay, Adam Warren would relieve Hughes and continue to throw good innings as the Yankees designated long man up until the seventh, when the Royals padded their lead to 3-0 thanks to a run-scoring double from Johnny Giavotella. The Yankees would finally break through against Guthrie in the bottom of the seventh, when Joe Girardi ended the Ishikawa experiment after two strikeouts and Lyle Overbay hit a solo homer into the right field seats as a pinch hitter.

Preston Claiborne would make an appearance for the Yankees and would continue his recent struggles in the top of the ninth. He surrendered a double to Alex Gordon and a triple to Alcides Escobar that plated two more to make the score 5-1 Royals. He's certainly not been doing his part to help keep Joba Chamberlain out of close games recently.

The Yankees would stage a rally in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with no outs. All-Star snub Greg Holland would have none of that comeback nonsense, as he struck out the side and stranded all three runners to close out the win for the Royals.

The Yankees have done their very best in the last eighteen innings to wipe away all the good feelings kindled by the six game winning streak of last week. But a blown save, a rain delay and more offensive futility have a way of putting a damper on your spirits, I suppose. Oh, and Brett Gardner set the Yankee record for consecutive games with a strikeout. Yay. (blows noisemaker)

The Royals and Yankees will tango again tomorrow at 7:05. James Shields and CC Sabathia are your probables.