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On a day that was all about them, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera both put in vintage performances. Pettitte took a no-hitter into the sixth and allowed just two runs in his seven innings. Rivera threw 1.2 innings and got out of two jams to keep the Giants off the board. It went pretty well, except for the Yankees' offense. The Yankees picked up nine hits, but could only push across one run as the Giants won 2-1.
Neither teams' offense could get much going early. Pettitte retired the first fourteen hitters he faced, while Yusmeiro Petit retired the first six. The first hit of the game came in the bottom of the third, when Mark Reynolds led off with a home run.
The first Giant to reach base against Pettitte was Pablo Sandoval, who drew a two-out walk in the fifth inning. An inning later, the Giants got their first hit of the game. Ehire Adrianza homered off Pettitte to end the no-hitter and tie the game at one.
After that blip, Pettitte continued to pitch well and after seven innings, the home run remained the only hit against him. Problem was, the Yankee offense wasn't doing anything. They had gotten six hits, but failed to retake the lead. Their best chance came in the seventh inning when they had second and third with one out. But both Vernon Wells and Ichiro Suzuki struck out and sent the game to the eighth tied.
Pettitte came back out to pitch the eighth inning, but after giving up a lead-off double to Sandoval, Girardi came out to get him. Andy left the mound to a standing ovation in his final Yankee Stadium start. The ovation and curtain call was well deserved, for not only his whole career, but for how he pitched today.
David Robertson was brought in to pitch next. He got Hector Sanchez to ground out, which moved the runner up a base. But the next batter, Tony Abreu, doubled to right. That scored a run and made it 2-1 Giants. Girardi came back out and decided it was Mo time.
On Mariano Rivera day, Mo was called on to pitch a little earlier than usual. Rivera struck out Adrianza and got some help from Curtis Granderson, who made a nice catch on a Angel Pagan bloop for the third out.
The Yankees had another golden opportunity in the bottom of the eighth, but once again, they couldn't push a run across. Alex Rodriguez led off with a single and was immediately replaced by pinch runner Zoilo Almonte. Robinson Cano followed that with a double, which put runners on second and third with nobody out. Alfonso Soriano then grounded one to third, Almonte tried scoring but he hesitated a little and was easily out at the plate. With runners now on first and second, Granderson struck out, which left the inning up to Eduardo Nunez. Nunez dropped a single into left field. Cano tried scoring from second but Juan Perez's throw was on the money and Cano was out at home to end the inning.
Rivera came back out to pitch the top of the ninth. He got into a jam with runners on first and second with nobody out, thanks to a couple rare defensive mishaps from Brendan Ryan. But on his day, Mo didn't let another run get across. He got Buster Posey to pop up and Hunter Pence to ground into a double play. The game went on to the bottom of the ninth with the Giants leading 2-1.
The bottom of the Yankees's lineup went down in order in the ninth against Sergio Romo. The Giants won 2-1 to avoid the sweep. The pre-game and first six innings went about as well as they could've. But the last three innings, except Mo, couldn't have gone any worse.
After an off day tomorrow, the Yankees will begin their final home series on Tuesday. The opponent is the Rays and Hiroki Kuroda will get the start in the series opener.
