Jason Hammel was perfect through the first four innings of Game 5, but in the fifth inning, he allowed a clean single to Mark Teixeira for the first Yankees runner of the game:
Mark Teixeira, five-tool player, gets Yankees on the board
That wasn’t all, though. Hammel now had to deal with Teixeira on the bases, which means throw after throw over to first base, worrying about the runner more than the hitter. Or, it might mean no throw at all, and no first baseman playing near the bag, which allows Teixeira to walk halfway to second before Hammel is finished with his windup.
The latter. It meant the latter, and Teixeira stole second easily after walking into his lead.
That became a big deal when Raul Ibanez rapped a single into right-center, allowing the dynamic Teixeira to score easily. A groundball from Nick Swisher turned into a double play, and after a Curtis Granderson single and stolen base, Russell Martin flied out to end the inning.
The damage was done, though, and the Yankees hold a 1-0 behind the legs of Mark Teixeira. Hammel worked almost as hard in the fifth -- throwing 25 pitches -- as he did in the first four inning combined.
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