Frustrating and ugly. Those are the first words that come to mind to try and describe the New York Yankees' 4-3 11-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Why frustrating?
- Because the Yankees went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
- Because they left 15 runners on base.
- Because they wanted a tremendous performance by starting pitcher A.J. Burnett, who allowed one hit (a solo home run by Eric Hosmer) in seven innings.
Why ugly?
- Because second baseman Robinson Cano left the game after getting hit in the head by Royals' pitcher Nathan Adcock.
- Because Burnett drilled Kansas City's Jeff Francouer the next inning and was accused of retaliation by Royals' Manager Ned Yost.
- Because Buddy Carlyle was awful in the 11th inning. He surrendered a hit, walked three and uncorked a pair of wild pitches in giving up the eventual winning run.
In their last 16 games the Yankees have scored more than five runs just twice.
"Right now we're struggling offensively," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We're better than this."
The series concludes Thursday night with Ivan Nova pitching for the Yankees and Sean O'Sullivan for the Royals.