Postgame notes: “Frustration and understanding what time of year it is”

Didi Gregorius slammed his bat to the ground, and when the knob kicked off the dirt, the lumber skipped into the air and went tumbling toward the Yankees’ dugout. Where the bat ended up looked reckless. Where it started out was obvious frustration.

Two outs. Bases loaded. Down by one. Gregorius sent an eighth-inning line drive toward right field, but he’d barely started out of the batter’s box when the ball was snagged by second baseman Logan Forsyth. Of all the missed opportunities, that’s the one cost the Yankees’ the most and said the most about where they are in the schedule and in the standings.

“I actually kind of like (slamming the bat),” manager Joe Girardi said. “I like that he’s a little upset. You don’t want to see someone get hurt, and no one did, but that’s frustration and understanding what time of year it is. And I like his intensity.”

Toronto won, meaning the Yankees lost a game in the standings. They’re now a game-and-a-half out of first place, one game behind the Blue Jays in the loss column.

Gregorius has 17 hits in his past nine games,and he doubled in the Yankees’ first run in today’s fifth inning. When the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, he was perhaps the perfect hitter to come to the plate. Gregorius hit that ball hard enough, but said it got to Forsythe so quickly that he never even had a moment to believe he’d just tied the game with a base hit. Had it gotten through, at least one run would have scored, but there was no celebration. Gregorius hit the ball, saw it caught, and flung the bat.

“I just wanted to come through for the team, and it didn’t happen,” Gregorius said. “There’s nothing I could do, I guess.”

It was the Yankees’ second line out of the inning, and the inning’s other out was a sharp ground ball up the middle that nearly got through for a single.

“The way we swung the bats and how patient we were and our ability to get on base and we started with two outs, it’s unfortunate,” Girardi said. “But like I said, that’s part of the game. You’re going to line out sometimes, and I like the approach. I like the at-bats. We just didn’t get the results we wanted.”

Not that the Yankees’ hit into nothing but bad luck. They left nine men on base, went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and had just five hits; one for extra bases. Their starting pitcher walked four batters for the first time since mid-June, and he was often missing the zone badly. The Yankees created some of their own bad luck today, and when they hit into bad luck as well, they lost the chance to keep pace in the American League East.

“We always fight,” Gregorius said. “We were down, but we never gave up. That’s one thing we have here, a great mentality. You have to fight for it. Nothing comes easy.”

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• Nathan Eovaldi gives up hits. We all know that. He’s able to get away with it by rarely allowing home runs and by keeping his walks in check. In a span of two innings this afternoon, though, Eovaldi walked three and hit a batter. “I just lost control of the ball,” he said. “I wasn’t even coming close to the strike zone. I’ve got to do a better job of staying in attack mode.”

• Eovaldi had his nine-game winning streak snapped. That was the longest in the Majors this season. He is still 9-1 with a 3.43 ERA in his past 14 starts since June 20. “He struggled with his command a little bit today,” Girardi said. “The last start he struggled with his (split) a little bit, but everything else was pretty good. Today I thought he just struggled with his command. He still gave us a good opportunity to win the game.”

• Two of Eovaldi’s three losses this season have been against the Rays. He also lost to them May 12 at Tampa Bay (gave up four runs in 7.1 innings that time).

• Granted, a lot of Eovaldi’s wins have come because of terrific run support, but he was still pretty good and consistent during the winning streak. “I didn’t throw the ball that well in Atlanta,” he said. “But I stayed in the game long enough to get that win. Today, five and a third, especially this type of ballgame, I would have liked to stay out there a little bit longer and come out on the winning side.”

• On the passed ball for John Ryan Murphy, Eovaldi said there were no crossed signals and no missed communication. He simply missed his spot so badly that Murphy couldn’t catch it.

• Nice big league debut for James Pazos who got the first two outs in the ninth inning, including his first career strikeout. “All you have to do is throw strikes,” he said. “You’re just excited to get in the game and your mind’s racing a little bit, but you just have to relax.”

• Yankee Stadium actually gave Pazos a pretty nice ovation as he walked off the mound. “That was incredible,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting anything like that, but just hearing a good applause coming from the Yankees fans … I wasn’t really sure what to do. I just kept walking, maybe gave them a smile. I don’t remember.”

• After Pazos, Andrew Bailey got the last out in the top of the ninth for his first appearance as a Yankee at Yankee Stadium. He walked the first batter he faced then fielded a comebacker. All told, the Yankees bullpen pitched 3.2 scoreless innings. Chasen Shreve, Adam Warren and Nick Rumbelow also pitched.

• Not in the lineup after being sick yesterday, Jacoby Ellsbury entered as a pinch hitter and stayed in to play defense. “He’s probably not 100 percent,” Girardi said. “I mean when you’re throwing up (you’re not well), but we felt good enough that we could use him today, and I expect him to be in there tomorrow.”

• Carlos Beltran has now hit safely in 19 of his past 20 games at Yankee Stadium. He was 1-for-4 and nearly had another hit in the eighth inning, but he lined out to first base. … Chase Headly was the only Yankee to have multiple hits. He went 2-for-4. … Gregeorius has at least one RBI in seven of his past nine games.

• John Ryan Murphy reached base three times via two walks and a hit by pitch. This was the sixth time in his career that he reached three times in a single game.

• Final word to Girardi: “You’ve got to bounce back tomorrow. I mean, that’s the bottom line. There’s still a lot of baseball to be played. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get it done today, but again, I like the approach. I like the way we played. We just didn’t get it done.”

Associated Press photos

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