The New York Yankees lost their third straight game of the season on Thursday night, falling to the Kansas City Royals, 4-3, to open their four-game series at Kauffman Stadium. The win was the Royals first at home this season.
The game, of course, was overshadowed by the horrific injury suffered during pre-game warmps by Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who is likely lost for the season with a torn ACL.
David Phelps of the Yankees made his first career start Thursday, giving up two earned runs and six hits in four innings.
The Royals got on the board first with a solo home run by Mike Moustakas in the first inning. They expanded their lead with singles in the third and fifth innings by Eric Hosmer and Moustakas, respectively. Moustaka's hit to right field off of D.J. Mitchell scored Hosmer and Alex Gordon to put the Royals' decisive runs on the scoreboard.
Derek Jeter went 4-for-5 for the Yankees, raising his average to .404, and Andruw Jones was 3-for-4. Unfortunately, 13 hits by the team didn't translate into many runs. After Mark Texeira's third-inning double to score Jeter, New York did not score again until the sixth inning when Eduardo Nunez drove in a run on a sac fly. Texeira capped the scoring for the Yankees with another sac fly to score Jeter yet again in the seventh.
Jeter and Curtis Granderson reached base to open the ninth inning for the Yankees, but Royals closer Jonathan Broxton got Mark Teixeira to hit into a double play and Alex Rodriguez to ground to third base to end the game.
Danny Duffy (2-2) got the win for Kansas City, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up six hits and two earned runs.
See Pinstripe Alley for more discussion and analysis of the Yankees. Check back with SB Nation New York for more information about Rivera's injury.