Remember when Francisco Cervelli looked like he could be an everyday player?
The month of May was a long time ago. That was made clear again last night when Cervelli made a costly error and struck out with a man on third in a 6-3 Yankees loss to the Red Sox last night at Yankee Stadium.
Cervelli was the darling of the early season when he was batting over .400, and people were calling for him to take starts from Jorge Posada. Since then his average has declined to .255, and he rarely hits a ball hard.
It wasn’t his offense that was the major problem against the Sox, though. It was his second-inning gaffe that sent Javier Vazquez into a tailspin that put the goat horns on him.
With Adrian Beltre on second and one out, Mike Lowell hit a high pop-up just up the first-base line. Vazquez and Cervelli drifted under the ball. Cervelli called for it, but as the ball came down, it bounced off his glove, allowing Lowell to reach first.
Cervelli compounded the error when he didn’t realize Beltre was dashing to third, and took his time picking up the ball. It was the first error the Yankees have committed this season with Vazquez on the mound.
“I just dropped it,” Cervelli said. “That’s it. No chance to turn around, and I think I moved my glove late and I dropped it. My fault today.”
That would have been the second out of the inning. Ryan Kalish then struck out, which should have ended the inning.
Instead, Vazquez came apart and issued two straight walks before allowing a two-RBI double. When the inning was done, the Sox had a 4-2 lead they would never relinquish.
Vazquez said he should have called Cervelli off because he had a better angle on the ball.
“Someone has to catch it,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s the bottom line.”
In the fourth inning, Cervelli came up with two outs and Robinson Cano on third.
Clay Buchholz struck him out on a 95 mile-per-hour fastball to end the scoring threat.