1999 Yankees Diary, April 30: Poor day for Pettitte against Royals

30/04/2024 17:30

A rough outing for Andy Pettitte, beer thrown on Jason Grimsley, and insults hurled to the Yankees bullpen in first-game loss to the Royals.

Despite the array of injuries to the 1999 Yankees throughout the month of April, the team kept winning important games. Coming off a series win against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, the Yankees went north to Kaufmann Stadium to start a four-game set against the Kansas City Royals to close out April and hopefully start off May on the right foot.

But, the end of an overall successful month was not what anyone could focus on after an implosion from the night's starter, Andy Pettitte and a raucous crowd turned feral after his exit.

April 30: Royals 13, Yankees 6 (box score)

Record: 14-7 (1st, +2.5 GA)

If anyone were to look at the box score for the Yankees from this particular game, it would be a tale of two very different ends of the offense. Chris Knoblauch went 3-for-5 with a triple and a hit by pitch, Paul O'Neill went 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly, Scott Brosius went 3-for-5 as well.

But as far as hitter production goes, that was about all the Yankees could muster at the plate. An uncharacteristic 0-for-5 day for Derek Jeter, along with three other members of the batting order registering no-hit days, stymied any attempts at a comeback.

The story of the day was Andy Pettitte's performance. He pitched only 3.1 innings, allowing seven hits, seven earned runs, with only one strikeout and two walks. Four of his seven runs were on two two-run shots in the bottom of the third and fourth innings. But, he only threw 57 pitches before being relieved by Jason Grimsley.

Here is one of the home runs off the bat of Carlos Beltrán:

The outing for the bullpen wasn't even the main part of the story, as Grimsley had beer dumped on him by Royals fans, and the rest of the relief pitchers had insults hurled at them throughout the game.

Grimsley was quoted in a New York Post article saying, "You get used to the verbal abuse and there were some pretty good rags out there, but don't throw beer on me."

Yankees reliever and current YES Network analyst Jeff Nelson was excited to see how the fans would react once the series shifted to The Bronx.

"What's going to happen when Kansas City's players come back to New York?" Nelson asked. "There is nothing like New York fans. They will support us and there is no way of knowing what will happen."

But back to the action on the field, Grimsley pitched to the tune of 1.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, with two strikeouts. He also gave up a home run. After Grimsley's day was done, Dan Naulty was brought in and finished the job, but not before the Royals put some more runs on the board. He threw three innings, allowing four hits, four runs, two walks, and only one strikeout. Like Pettitte, he gave up two home runs as well.

The Royals offense did their jobs all around the lineup, but it was the bottom part that were catalysts for the high number of runs scored. Hitters five, seven, eight, and nine all had at least one RBI.

For the final two and two-third innings, the Yankees did not register a hit. So, despite getting 12 hits to the Royals' 15, two four-run innings in the bottom of the fourth and the sixth cost the Yankees the game. They were up 2-1 by the end of the second inning, but the Royals offense started their comeback and did not look back.

Here are the highlights:

Read the full 1999 Yankees Diary series here.