Eric Chavez, starting at third base in place of Alex Rodriguez, hit an RBI triple today, and Eduardo Nunez, filling in for Derek Jeter at shortstop, had two hits in four at-bats. Pretty good, right? Yes, except that the following things also happened today: Eric Chavez, while rounding the bases, injured his foot. (Tests showed that he has a small fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.) And Nunez made two errors, the second of which — with two outs in a shaky seventh inning for A.J. Burnett — allowed two Tigers runs to score, turning a tight 3–2 game into a decidedly less tight 5–2 game. (That’s five errors in 22 innings at shortstop this year for Nunez, by the way.) Burnett actually took a no-hitter into the sixth today — he made an error on the day, as well — giving him the following line: seven innings (good!), three hits (good!), five runs (not good!), but just two earned runs (not bad!). (Each team would add one more run in the 6–3 Tigers victory.) That’s three straight losses now for the Yankees — all to a team that had lost seven in a row after dropping the opening game of this series on Monday night.
A Mixed Day for the Yankees’ Bench (and, Also, Another Loss)
Photo: Gregory Shamus