When the Yankees acquired Graeme Lloyd a week ago, they were hoping he’d help out in the bullpen as a lefty specialist down the stretch run of the season. Instead, Lloyd’s been hit pretty good – his recent outing coming in tonight’s disastrous 7-4 loss.
With a 4-2 lead and runners on first and second thanks to Jeff Nelson, who had already allowed to runs to score in the sixth inning, Joe Torre turned to Lloyd to get two outs to protect the lead. Lou Piniella sent up pinch-hitter Jeff Manto, who promptly smacked a 2-0 pitch to left-center field for a three-run bomb.