Ivan Nova has rough day vs. Orioles
NEW YORK – Near the end of a long afternoon Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, the blue seats in every deck and the gray bleachers stood out in the crowd because there was hardly any crowd left to fill them. The day had long since gotten away from the Yankees, pounded by the Orioles 14-5.
Ivan Nova helped drive them away early. The 27-year-old righty had been riding a streak of 24 straight starts having surrendered four earned runs or less. Mostly it was a symbol of him finding some consistency again the second half of last season.
But after keeping the streak alive despite a shaky first start last week in Houston, it came to a screeching halt. Nova was charged with seven runs, all of them earned, and 10 of Baltimore's 20 hits in 32/3 innings. Many among the 35,864 there at the time let him have it with a three-letter word as he walked off — boo.
"I don't feel good when you pitch that way with the good spring training that I had," Nova said after the Yankees fell to 4-4. "It's only the second time. I have plenty of time to fix it and get back to where I want to be."
Last time, Nova walked five and gave up six hits in a 52/3-inning outing. But he only yielded two runs and earned a 4-2 win.
This time, 45 of his 61 pitches went for strikes. But he got the ball up.
His friends, the curve and the sinker, betrayed him.
"I wouldn't make too much out of two starts," manager Joe Girardi said. "I know it's glaring in the beginning. I know he's more than capable of turning this around and being a big-time pitcher for us."
Four batters into this second start, Nova was standing on the mound in a 3-0 hole.
Nick Markakis led off by lining a single into left-center. Delmon Young followed by bouncing a single into left-center, moving Markakis to third. The 39-going-on-40 Derek Jeter didn't flash much range at short, going to his left. Nova, though, played defense for him.
"I know he tried the best to get the double play," Nova said. "That's the game."
Chris Davis lifted a sac fly to center for what might have been the third out. And then Adam Jones lifted a two-run rocket over the center-field fence.
"I've got to get my pitches down," Nova said.
Carlos Beltran got one run back off winner Wei-Yin Chen with a double in the bottom of the first. Nova gave that back in the second.
Baltimore, which had scored three runs or less five times in a 2-5 start, made it a 7-1 game in the fourth, with the three runs and four hits in the rally charged to Nova.
"You trust your guys and their track record," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "We've been facing some of the best pitchers in the world and you have to keep that in mind."
Vidal Nuno didn't appear to be one of the best pitchers in the world when Baltimore floored it against the lefty with four in the sixth, including a two-run shot by Young, and three in the eighth, including a two-run shot by Matt Wieters.
"Yeah, I took a rough one today," Nuno said. "But it's not going to faze me and just get down on myself. It's just one day."
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