When Andrew Miller returns to the Yanks today, it may be a good thing for Dellin Betances—that and the all-star break, even though Betances is on the All-Star team.
One thing manager Girardi has to watch out for is overuse of his bullpen members. Lately Betances has shown some signs of being in a rut. He had that bad game against the lowly Phils, gave up a HR (his first in a long time) to the Rays just a few days ago and last night gave up a tenth-inning HR to lose the game for the Yanks, 4-3. Maybe he just needs a bit of a rest to get his mechanics back.
With the loss, the Yanks are 44-39, but still have a 1 1/2 game lead over both Baltimore and Toronto in the AL East. Tampa Bay is 2 1/2 out and don’t look now, but last-place Boston is just five out.
Nathan Eovaldi gave up a run in the top of the first, but the Yanks came back with two on singles by McCann and Jones.
After the A’s tied it in the third, Didi Gregorius put the Yanks up 3-2 in the fourth with an RBI single.
Chasen Shreve, who like Betances has been great this year, had a blip of his own last night, giving up a game-tying HR in the sixth before Betances served up the game-losing HR in the tenth.
Eovaldi was ok, but once again didn’t give much length. Granted, Girardi pulled him after just 86 pitches. This is something the Yanks have to fix. You can’t be wearing out the bullpen. I do wonder why an ex-starter (Warren) went just one inning, but Betances was allowed to pitch a second inning. It was in that second inning of work where Betances gave up the HR. Oh, well. There was a little too much mixing and matching for my taste. That’s just me.
Anyway, the Yanks get Ellsbury and Miller back today and we’ll see what the respective roster moves are.
Eovaldi 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 1 walk and 4 K. 4.45
Shreve 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 1 K. 2.10
Warren 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 3.48 (why not longer?)
Wilson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 1 K. 2.97
Betances (L, 5-2, 1.65) 1 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 3 K.
Capuano 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 4.76.