After winning in dramatic fashion on Thursday afternoon on a walkoff two run homer by Jason Giambi, the Yankees hoped to take that momentum into tonight's game. Tonight wasn't the night as Royals rookie pitcher, Kyle Davies, pitched a gem, scattering only one run and seven hits over a well pitched 6 2/3 innings. Davies earned the win as he rendered trhe Yankee bats quiet. Davies was called up from Triple A last Saturday. He proceeded to defeat the Indians' C.C Sabathia in snapping the Royals 12 game losing streak. Tonight he snapped the Royals 11 game road losing streak by mixing up his pitches, attacking the strike zone early and often and keeping the Yankees hitters off balanced and guessing.
On the other side, Darrell Rasner pitched yet another excellent game for the Yankees. Once again, though, he was betrayed by a lack of offense. In Rasner's last three starts, the Yankees have scored a combined three runs, losing all three games. Tonight Rasner consistently worked into and out of trouble. He gave up leadoff doubles on three separate occasions and five doubles for the game. He did his best Houdini impression tonight, giving up only two runs over eight innings of work while throwing 120 pitches. Rasner, as usual, worked very quickly and threw strikes. Though the Royals hit him relatively well the entire night, they just couldn't seal the deal with runners in scoring position.
In the eighth, there was a little controversy. Jason Giambi was at the plate, and checked his swing on a 3-2 pitch with two runners on base. He clearly checked his swing, but the catcher seemed to sell it to homeplate umpire Ed Montague who called it Strike three. It was a bad call, but it was relatively minor considering the Yankees' ineptitude offensively for the entire night.
NOTES:
Johnny Damon's hit streak ended at 14 games
Melky Cabrera's RBI single in the 8th inning plated the Yankees only run
Rasner's eight innings were a career high
