Bartolo Colon couldn’t make it through the first Thursday, giving up eight runs -- three earned -- in two-thirds of an inning against the Blue Jays.
Colon should have been out of the inning with the Yankees down 3-0, but third baseman Eduardo Nunez, who is expected to be an everyday player while Alex Rodriguez spends the next month rehabbing, committed his 11th error in the equivalent of 36 full games this season to extend the frame.
Colon went on to give up three more hits before being pulled in favor of Luis Ayala in a 7-0 game. Ayala committed a run-scoring balk to make it 8-0 before retiring Jose Bautista to end the inning.
It was the first time this season that the Jays had scored eight runs in an inning.
The start matched the shortest of Colon’s career: he also lasted just two-thirds of an inning against the Mariners on April 9, 1997. Colon gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings versus the Rays in his final start before the break, so his ERA has jumped from 2.88 to 3.47 in the past 10 days.