The Yankees starters again struggled to score in Saturday’s 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays. In fact, the lone Yankee run came on a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a fielder’s choice on a double-play ball, with Francisco Cervelli, Juan Miranda, and Ramiro Peña doing the honors and Austin Romine scoring the run. Romine was in the game because the stray pitch hit Cervelli in the helmet, knocking him out of the game with a concussion. More on that below.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Curtis Granderson (CF)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
S – Randy Winn (RF)
L – Brett Gardner (LF)
R – Francisco Cervelli (DH)
L – Juan Miranda (1B)
S – Ramiro Peña (2B)

Subs: Jorge Vazquez (1B), Kevin Russo (2B), Reegie Corona (SS), Brandon Laird (3B), P.J. Pilittere (C), David Winfree (RF), Jamie Hoffmann (CF), Colin Curtis (LF), Austin Romine (DH)

Pitchers (IP): A.J. Burnett (1 2/3), Amaury Sanit (1/3), Boone Logan (2), Jonathan Albaladejo (1/3), Mark Melancon (1 2/3), Andrew Brackman (1), Romulo Sanchez (1), Jason Hirsh (1)

Big Hits: Colin Curtis doubled and walked. That’s about it. The Yankees only had five other hits, all singles, and no other Yankee reached base twice.

Who Pitched Well: Boone Logan worked the equivalent of two perfect innings striking out two. Mark Melancon worked around a single for 1 2/3 scoreless frames. Jason Hirsh hit one batter but retired the other three in the ninth.

Who Didn’t: Jonathan Albaladejo faced nine batters, eight reached base (one via walk, six via singles) and five scored, three of them on a home run by Adam Lind. Andrew Brackman gave up three hits including a two-run homer by J.P. Arencibia in his lone inning of work. Albaladejo and Brackman also both uncorked a wild pitch. A.J. Burnett had his fastball in the mid-90s, but didn’t have much command of it and intentionally stayed away from his curveball. The result was three singles, two doubles, a walk, two runs allowed, and a hook before he was able to finish his second inning.

Nice Plays: Reegie Corona made a nice ranging play at shortstop coming well across the second-base bag. Brandon Laird, at third base, made a nice back-handed stab and strong throw from the foul line. There were some other nice plays, but those two were the best.

Oopsies: Corona has nice range, but his arm makes him a second baseman, as demonstrated when he made a back-handed catch in the shortstop hole and bounced the throw to first base.

Ouchies: The most significant event in the game came in the third inning when birthday boy Francisco Cervelli was hit on the top of the helmet by a pitch from Zechry Zinicola. The pitch actually came in around neck high, but rather than fall backward and away from it, he ducked and the ball hit him on the crown of his helmet, giving him a concussion and leaving stitch imprints on his helmet. A CT scan was negative (which is a positive, that is to say, they scanned his head and found nothing), but Cervelli was hit in the same spot by a backswing in winter ball in November and suffered a concussion, so the team will be cautious. He’ll be checked again Sunday and see a neurologist on Monday. If all checks out well he could return to game action mid-week. Nick Johnson took batting practice and said he “felt loose.” He should play on Monday after skipping Sunday’s long bus ride.

Other: Michael Kay nugget of the day: a kid in the stands puts his cap on backwards and Kay explains, “Hat goes on in the Griffey style. Ken Griffey Jr. started that.” Oh he did, did he?