NEW YORK — A close call on a foul ball. An easy grounder that deflects off the pitcher’s leg. A catch that wasn’t.
Little is going right for the Indians these days, and despite a four-run rally in the ninth inning after starter Phil Hughes was out, Cleveland couldn’t overcome the bad bounces in a 6-4 loss to the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, its season-high fourth straight defeat.
“When you’re going bad, that’s what happens,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “Every team goes through it. You’ve just got to, hey, rise above it, show up tomorrow and play again.”
The ball that hit off diving third baseman Jack Hannahan in the Yankees’ three-run second inning might have had more of an effect on the outcome of the game but the most talked about play was also the most egregious.
Yankees left fielder Dewayne Wise fooled third base umpire Mike DiMuro into thinking he made a stupendous catch, flipping into the stands in foul territory down the left-field line with two outs and a runner on third base.
After a wait of several seconds for Wise to emerge from the stands, DiMuro called it a catch and birthday boy Derek Jeter was the first to greet Wise. Jeter, of course, made one of his most famous catches diving head first into the stands in left. Replays, though, showed the ball hitting off Wise’s glove as he fell to the ground and out of view.
“What was I supposed to do run back to left field?” Wise said. “I saw him looking at my glove so I just got up, put my head down and ran off the field.”
Before seeing a replay, Acta had an inkling his team had gotten snake bit again.
“If it’s a great play, how come you’re not showing it on the board for the fans?” Acta said. “We were discussing that with the umpires, but, what can you do?”
DiMuro acknowledged the call was wrong.
“I went out on the ball and saw the ball into his glove in the stands. He disappeared into the stands and I believed that the ball was in his glove,” DiMuro said.
The aspect of the play that really peeved Hannahan and got him ejected in the eighth was the fact that DiMuro never asked to see the ball.
“It was right in front of him. I can live with the fact that he didn’t see him drop the ball or the fan jumping up two feet away that was excited he got the foul ball. But for him not to ask him to see the ball is absolutely inexcusable,” Hannahan said. “It’s frustrating.”
Said DiMuro: “In hindsight, I should have asked him to show me the ball since he fell into the stands and out of my line of vision.”
Hughes (8-6) got out of that jam and several others in pitching eight innings of six-hit ball.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen an all left-handed lineup before and I’m pretty comfortable with my fastball going in on lefties,” Hughes said.
Alex Rodriguez hit a long home run for New York, which scored five of its runs without a homer — they came in on a tear, having scored 16 of their last 21 runs on long balls.
Curtis Granderson had a two-run single and Chris Stewart added an RBI hit against Justin Masterson (4-7) in the second inning.
In their previous four games, Cleveland scored just five runs. They scored four runs against Cory Wade in the ninth on Johnny Damon’s RBI single and Jose Lopez’s three-run homer. Lopez had replaced Hannahan.
Rafael Soriano got one out for his 16th save.
The Yankees can do little wrong these past few weeks. Rodriguez’s monster shot in the seventh off Tony Sipp into the second deck in left field was No. 642 of his career and helped the Yankees to their fourth straight win and 14th in 17 games.
Masterson had never allowed a homer to the Yankees in eight outings and that held true. So the Yankees played small-ball against the pitcher with a 1.24 ERA in June and a streak of having not given up an earned run in 201⁄3 innings coming in.
Notable
Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said he doesn’t think the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona will face the same eight-week suspension that Miami reliever Juan Carlos Oviedo received for age and identity fraud when he was allowed to return to the United States.
Roberto Hernandez has been on the restricted list since last winter when he was arrested in the Dominican Republic for false identity charges. He was cleared of those charges in February after completing a work program. Hernandez’s contract was reworked for a lower salary at the Indians’ request, but Hernandez still awaits a visa.
“Our understanding at this point is because Roberto restructured his contract, there won’t be an additional suspension required,” Antonetti said Tuesday before the Indians played the New York Yankees. “That’s the guidance we’ve been given at this point. There are just no absolutes.”
• Indians DH Travis Hafner (minor right knee surgery) will begin a rehabilitation assignment today at Triple-A Columbus. There is no set amount of games scheduled yet, Acta said.
• RHP Carlos Carrasco (elbow reconstruction surgery last September) threw from a mound. “It’s encouraging to see him throw the bullpen the way the ball was coming out of his hand today,” Acta said, adding Carrasco is on track to return next season.
TODAY
• WHO: Cleveland vs. N.Y. Yankees
• TIME: 1:05 p.m.
• WHERE: Yankee Stadium
• PITCHERS: Jimenez (7-5, 4.59 ERA) vs. Pettitte (3-3, 3.29)
• TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio, MLB; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM
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