KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Because of off days Monday and Thursday and some rainy weather in the nation's capital, the Yankees entered Friday night having played a total of 5{ innings this week.
And spent one night inside of an airport.
If a team was ever ripe for the picking by an inferior opponent, it was the Yankees.
Though no one inside the clubhouse would think of using the unscheduled slumber party at Dulles International Airport Wednesday night as an excuse, the Yankees were unquestionably flat in a 5-2 loss to the subpar Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
The Yankees (28-13), who came in having won 19 of 22, were shut out by the Royals (14-30) over the first five innings before finally showing some life.
CC Sabathia, shifted to Friday after his scheduled outing Wednesday night was postponed in Washington, wasn't sharp, though his defense didn't help, either. Victimized by two costly misplays by rookie second baseman Gleyber Torres, who had been mostly a stud in the field since his call-up April 22, Sabathia (2-1) allowed four runs (two earned), four hits and four walks in five innings.
Royals right-hander Jakob Junis (5-3) took a shutout into the sixth before being charged with two runs. Junis allowed those runs and seven hits in 51/3 innings.
The trouble started in the first. Sabathia allowed a leadoff double to Whit Merrifield, who had three hits. Merrifield stole third with one out and Mike Moustakas walked. Salvador Perez hit a soft liner that Torres chased into short center but the ball bounced off his glove. Torres recovered to force Moustakas at second but Merrifield came in for a 1-0 lead.
The Royals added two unearned runs in the third, a 41-pitch inning for Sabathia that left him at 67 pitches. Kansas City had runners on second and third with none out and Sabathia looked as if he'd get out of it, retiring two straight. Even after walking Perez to load the bases, Sabathia looked fine when Jon Jay hit a routine grounder to second. Torres however, bobbled it, the error allowing Abraham Almonte to score to make it 2-0. Hunter Dozier then worked a bases-loaded walk to bring in Merrifield to make it 3-0.
Junis stranded two runners in the fourth and fifth innings, giving the Yankees six stranded through five.
Perez made it 4-0 with one out in the fifth, crushing a first-pitch changeup to left for his sixth homer of the season that snapped an 0-for-13 slide.
The Yankees got an RBI single by Neil Walker off left-hander Tim Hill in the sixth and a sacrifice fly by Miguel Andujar later in the inning, to make it 4-2, but that would be all as they were mostly shut down by four relievers.
"The best part about it was the way the guys handled it," Aaron Boone said beforehand of the circumstances that caused most of the traveling party of 60 to spend Wednesday night in their gated aircraft at Dulles. "They were pros about it, there wasn't a lot of griping. I think the guys just kind of laughed it off."
Pretty much every player and coach, felt similarly.
It could have been worse and, in fact, in their lives in the minor leagues, they had experienced worse.
"I've sat on a bus for 14 hours going from Charleston to Lakewood (New Jersey)," Aaron Judge said Friday afternoon of his days with the Class-A Charleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League. "I really didn't think much of it. I had a seat to myself, had plenty of leg room. I was fine."
Judge smiled.
"You just have to roll with it," he said. "You can't get mad about it or get angry because that doesn't make the circumstances any better."
