There was a bright side to Marcus Stroman’s outing Wednesday: He didn’t allow any extra-base hits.
Of course, when you’re tagged for 10 singles while recording just as many outs, that’s not going to lead to much success.
It sure didn’t for Stroman and the Yankees.
He was charged with six earned runs on those 10 singles over 3 ¹/₃ innings as the Yankees fell to the Orioles 9-7 and failed to clinch the AL East for a second straight day.
Stroman was making his first start since Sept. 10 — he was used only because Nestor Cortes (flexor strain) went on the injured list earlier in the day — and he looked rusty.
The right-hander allowed hits to the first six Orioles he faced in a forgettable three-run opening frame, and was battered again in the fourth before he was pulled.
“I was fine, there’s no excuses,” he said. “I have to be better out there at the end of the day. Regardless of rhythm or when I last threw, I have to do a better job of keeping my team in the game. That’s pretty much all it comes down to.”
Before the performance, Stroman was already a longshot to be in the playoff rotation, and that seems even more unlikely now.
As for Stroman making the playoff roster, he may have a better shot since Cortes is injured, but the Yankees can’t feel great about him at the moment.
His ERA stands at 4.31 and his WHIP is a sky-high 1.47.
In Stroman’s defense, Baltimore didn’t hit a bunch of lasers off of him in that first inning, but balls found holes.
His inability to miss bats is a problem that’s not going away — he struck out just one.
It started when leadoff man Gunnar Henderson beat out an infield hit and Jordan Westburg followed with a line drive just out of Anthony Volpe’s reach.
Anthony Santander blooped in a single to center and Colton Cowser plated two runs with a fly ball down the left-field line that Jasson Dominguez overran.
“We were a couple of feet combined one way or the other on a bunch of balls that are outs versus not outs,” Austin Wells said.
Fortunately for Stroman, Santander was thrown out trying to advance to third on Dominguez’s misplay, otherwise there would’ve been even more runs.
Stroman was able to limit the damage to three runs by getting Cedric Mullins to ground out with two runners on.
But he ran into more problems in the fourth, when Ramon Urias and Mullins singled to start the inning and Henderson plated them with a rope up the middle.
Boos followed and Stroman’s night was mercifully over.
“I just feel like I was inconsistent with my mechanics and the shapes of my pitches were varying from pitch to pitch,” Stroman said. “I just didn’t do what I needed to do to keep the team in the game.”
