Miguel Andujar had two chances to give the Yankees the lead on Saturday.
But the third baseman, who quickly became a vital part of the offense as a rookie a year ago, wasn’t able to deliver in a 5-3 loss to Baltimore in The Bronx.
The day got off to a rough start for Andujar, serving as the DH with DJ LeMahieu making the start at third.
Andujar came up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first against Baltimore right-hander Nate Karns, serving as an opener.
Following three straight walks to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit, Andujar hit a hard comebacker that Karns snared and turned into an inning-ending double play.
“We had them on the ropes in the first,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “Those three guys made him work, but to his credit, Karns made a pitch and a play. That was not an easy play he made to get out of it.’’
Andujar said through an interpreter he did what he wanted to do with that first at-bat, even if the results didn’t follow.
But after being down by four runs to start the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees rallied and scored a pair of runs to get to within two.
Andujar got to the plate following a Voit RBI single to face Mike Wright, a right-hander Andujar had hit well in his young career, going 4-for-5 before Saturday.
“We had a pretty good matchup for us there with [Andujar] in that spot,’’ Boone said.
A first-pitch strike on a pitch Andujar was ruled to have swung at got the at-bat off to a rough start, and he made another ugly attempt at a 1-1 pitch before he swung through a 90 mph slider to end the game.
Boone didn’t think Andujar was thrown off by the first strike.
“He’s such a good hitter, one little call, especially early in an at-bat [won’t affect him],’’ the manager said of Andujar, who went 1-for-5 with an infield single and two strikeouts. “He probably got a little bit amped up to do a little too much there in the middle of the at-bat.”
Andujar said he “would take the experience and use it” going forward, but Saturday, the strikeout left the Yankees one hit short of being able to get back in the game.
“Those guys obviously never feel like they’re out of it and rightfully so,’’ Boone said. “We couldn’t cash in enough today.’’
