Yankees 10, Rockies 13: Yankees score seven runs in the eighth inning, still lose

The Yankees traveled to Colorado to start a two-game series against the Rockies tonight, and the road trip got off to a poor start. If you went to bed because of the late start, you missed a strange game. It was a rough night for just about all of the Yankee pitchers, and early on, the offense was bad too. Things got interesting when the Yankees scored seven runs in the eighth inning, but the comeback attempt fell short as the Yankees dropped their third game in a row.

Nathan Eovaldi has struggled lately, giving up five earned runs in each of his last two starts, and tonight was no different. The Rockies got on the board in the second inning after Carlos Gonzalez hit a lead-off double and Mark Reynolds doubled to drive him home. In the fourth inning, Gonzalez hit a lead-off single then Trevor Story and Nick Rayburn hit back-to-back home runs. They tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning before Eovaldi was removed from the game. Eovaldi ended the night having surrendered six earned runs on eight hits through just four innings.

Nick Goody escaped the fifth inning without getting into trouble then Joe Girardi turned to Kirby Yates. After issuing a lead-off walk and giving up a single, Yates threw the pickoff attempt away which allowed another run to score. Richard Bleier entered the game with two on and two outs and gave up back-to-back RBI singles to bring the score to 9-3. Bleier surrendered three more runs in the eighth inning to make it 12-3.

For their part, the Yankees finally pushed some runs across the plate in the sixth inning after Brian McCann walked, Rob Refsnyder singled, and Didi Gregorius hit a home run to right field. Facing a nine-run deficit, the Yankees' bats really came to life in the eighth inning. With one out, Refsnyder, Gregorius and Hicks all singled to load the bases. Making his Yankee debut, Ike Davis hit an RBI single to bring in a run. Two more runs scored after Jacoby Ellsbury singled. Brett Gardner took first base after being hit by a pitch then Castro hit a two-RBI single and advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher. Gardner scored on a ground out by McCann, and the Yankees' tenth run scored after Chase Headley singled. Gregorius grounded out to end the inning.

After that wild start to the inning, the Yankees brought out Andrew Miller for the bottom of the eighth, and he gave up a lead-off homer to Gonzalez to expand the Rockies' lead to 13-10. Miller struck out the next three batters to end the inning. The Yankees had one last chance to take the lead, but they made three easy outs to end the game.

The Yankees will send Ivan Nova to the mound tomorrow to try and earn the series split. He will square off against Chad Bettis at 3:10 EST.

Box score.