Solid pitching wasted in third straight defeat

TOLEDO, Ohio — There was both good news and bad news for the Yankees on Wednesday night.

The bad news was the continued struggles of the offense, which cost the team in a 2-1 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens.

The good news was the pitching of starter Alfredo Aceves and long reliever Kei Igawa, both of whom looked strong in limiting Toledo to just one run on seven hits until the ninth.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lost for the third straight night in Toledo because it managed just eight hits and that single run. The Yankees left seven runners on base in large part because they had only one hit in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“Unfortunately we talk about the same thing just about every night: We’re not getting the production out of the guys we need to get production out of,” Yankees manager Dave Miley said. “Again, we can talk about facing good pitching, but it seems to be happening on a nightly basis.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t score a couple of runs for Igawa, and he had to get the loss.”

The Mud Hens scored the winning run in the ninth off Igawa, who had made only one glaring mistake in his first five innings of work. That came on the first pitch in the fourth, a ball Timo Perez slammed over the right-field fence for his 10th home run of the season.

But in the ninth Brent Clevlen got the Hens rolling with a hard single off the glove of Alberto Gonzalez at shortstop. Michael Hollimon sacrificed him to second before reliever Chris Britton got Erick Almonte to fly out.

Britton then got ahead of Max St-Pierre 1-2 before St-Pierre hit a soft line drive to left for a single that scored Clevlen with the winning run.

“I thought he would throw me some sliders, but he threw me some good pitches and I got behind,” St-Pierre said. “Then he threw me a splitter. He hung it, I put it in play and got lucky.”

The Mud Hens didn’t have much luck against Aceves, who was activated from the disabled list before the game and made his first start since his promotion from Double-A Trenton.

Aceves gave up just two hits and didn’t allow a runner past first base until Freddy Guzman tripled with two outs in the third. But Aceves stranded Guzman at third when he got Brandon Inge, who completed a rehab assignment with the Mud Hens, to ground out.

“He’s going to help us – he’s got good stuff,” Miley said of Aceves. “It was the first time I’ve seen him pitch, and I was impressed.

But it wasn’t enough because the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre offense struggled with Toledo starter Virgil Vasquez and reliever Francisco Cruceta.

The Yankees collected three singles in the first inning but didn’t score because Matt Carson was caught stealing second, and the Yankees did little with the right-hander after that.

“When you’re struggling to score runs, some times you try to make some things happen,” Miley said. “(Third baseman Brandon) Inge threw the ball right on the money, so give him credit.”

After that Juan Miranda singled with two outs in the third, and Cody Ransom doubled with two outs in the sixth for the only hits off Vasquez until the eighth.

In that frame Carson tripled with one out, then came home on a single by Gonzalez. Miranda singled Gonzalez to second – Miranda’s third hit of the game and 18th in 34 at-bats against Toledo this season – but both runners were stranded when Cruceta came on to strike out Ransom and got Ben Broussard to hit a grounder back to the mound.

NOTES: Ransom will replace Justin Christian as the Yankees’ representative on the International League team in the Triple-A All-Star game. Christian was originally selected for the team but was promoted to New York July 6. Miley will manage the IL team in the game, which will be played July 16 in Louisville, Ky.

LOOKING AHEAD

Next Game: SWB Yankees vs. Columbus Clippers, 7:05 p.m., Cooper Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Probable starters: Dan McCutchen (RHP, 2-6, 3.36 ERA) vs. Dennis Tankersley (RHP, 2-2, 4.62 ERA)

On Deck: The Yankees continue their eight-game Ohio road trip before the All-Star Break by starting a four-game series at Columbus tonight.