SAN DIEGO — Alex Rodriguez was going to play third base. Masahiro Tanaka was a possibility to pinch run. And the Yankees were going to post a third straight stirring victory that would ignite a hot streak they need to stay relevant in the AL East.
Then, with the potential tying run at third base and two outs, Brett Gardner grounded to short and sent the Yankees out of Petco Park with a 7-6 loss that was witnessed by 41,321.
“It was a frustrating night for me,’’ said Gardner, who went 0-for-5 and struck out three times. “We had a guy on third and two outs. The pitch was down and away, and I hit it to the shortstop. It was frustrating for me.’’
For eight innings, the Yankees attempted to climb out of the hole Nathan Eovaldi put them in. Trailing 7-2 going to the ninth, the Yankees scored four runs against the Padres bullpen that lost closer Fernando Rodney in a deal with the Marlins on Thursday.
Rodriguez delivered a pinch-hit RBI single and Didi Gregorius doubled home a run. Aaron Hicks drove in a run with a groundout and Gregorius scored on a wild pitch. Beltran, whose right hamstring injury kept him out of the starting lineup for the third straight game, doubled to left-center and advanced to third on Jacoby Ellsbury’s grounder to the right side.
After stirring wins over the AL West-leading Rangers on Wednesday and Thursday at home, the Yankees believed they had another strong finish in them.
“Guys put some good at-bats in the last inning,’’ said Joe Girardi, who told Rodriguez he was going to play third if the Yankees tied or went ahead in the ninth and had Tanaka getting loose to run for Beltran. “We weren’t quite able to get it done.’’
As terrific as Eovaldi was in May, when he went 5-0 and lowered his ERA to 3.71, he has been that bad in June, and the first outing of July was putrid.
Eovaldi was yanked by Joe Girardi after giving up a one-out, bloop double to former Yankee Yangervis Solarte. In 4 1/3 innings, Eovaldi gave up six runs, seven hits, walked three and struck out two.
In his last six outings, Eovaldi is 0-4 with a 9.20 ERA. In 30 1/3 innings, he has given up 45 hits (12 homers), walked 12 and fanned 19. After being 6-2 at the end of May, when he was 5-0, Eovaldi is 6-6 and hasn’t won since May 29 at Tampa Bay.
The Yankees didn’t help themselves at the plate against Colin Rea, a 25-year-old right-hander who had never faced the Yankees and was 4-3 with a 5.05 ERA in 14 starts. In six innings, Rea allowed two runs and four hits, including Brian McCann’s third homer in three games, which reduced the deficit to 6-2 in the sixth.
Since the AL East-leading Orioles lost to the Mariners in Seattle, the defeat didn’t cost the 39-40 Yankees a game in the race. They trail the Birds by eight lengths.
Rodriguez was overjoyed when Girardi told him he was going to play third base for the first time since last year.
“I was so excited, I was thrilled,’’ Rodriguez said. “I wanted the opportunity to play third. I sprinted (to the clubhouse) to get my glove. I felt like a Little Leaguer.’’
