Results tagged ‘ Eduardo Nunez ’
Nunez latest Yankee to go on DL
As anticipated, the Yankees placed shortstop Eduardo Nunez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 6, because of a left oblique strain and purchased the contract of veteran infielder Alberto Gonzalez from Triple A Scranton. To create room on the 40-man roster for Gonzalez, the Yanks transferred first baseman Mark Teixeira to the 60-day DL.
With Nunez still hurting, the Yankees were in need of infield help because they have a makeup doubleheader against the Indians coming up Monday at Cleveland’s Progressive Field. Gonzalez, 30, was reacquired by the Yankees Thursday from the Cubs in a trade for a player to be named or cash.
Gonzalez batted .217 with one home run and two RBI in 23 at-bats for the Cubs. This is his second tour with the Yankees. Gonzalez, a utilityman whose primary position is shortstop, was with the Yankees for parts of the 2007 and ’08 seasons and hit .152 in 66 at-bats. A .241 career hitter over seven seasons, Gonzalez has also played for the Nationals, Rangers and Padres.
Monday’s scheduled twin bill will be a single-admission doubleheader. The first game will start at 12:05 p.m. with the second game to start approximately 20 minutes after the end of the opener. It will mark the Yankees’ first traditional doubleheader since May 3, 2007 when they swept the Rangers at Arlington, Texas, and their first against the Indians since taking both games Sept. 22, 1998 at Yankee Stadium. Since 2000, the Yankees have gone 14-1-16, getting swept only once – July 17, 2006 at the Stadium.
It had been speculated that Ivan Nova might come off the DL to start one of the games of Monday’s doubleheader, but the righthander injured his left side while recuperating from right triceps inflammation and will not be activated. David Phelps, who had already been tabbed to start the first game, will share the bill with lefthander Vidal Nuno.
Since 1914 when Mother’s Day was first recognized nationally, the Yankees have combined to go 57-47-2 on the holiday. They played on the road on Mother’s Day for the fifth time in the past seven years and against the Royals for the first time since 1997, a 3-2 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Sunday also marked Yogi Berra’s 88th birthday. The legendary catcher with 10 World Series rings and three American League Most Valuable Player Awards was born May 12, 1925 in St. Louis. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and inducted with Early Wynn and Sandy Koufax.
Nunez still hurting, is DL next?
Eduardo Nunez’s nagging left ribcage injury that kept him out of Saturday night’s lineup for the fifth straight game could force the Yankees to place him on the 15-day disabled list. A decision will likely to be made sometime Sunday because the Yankees have a makeup doubleheader at Cleveland Monday and do not want to be short on the roster with at least 18 innings to cover.
New rules allow the Yanks and Indians to add a 26th player each for the twin bill. The Yankees are expected to bring up another pitcher under that rule, but they may need an infielder as well. David Adams, the third baseman who has done well at Triple A Scranton, is ineligible to be called up to the majors until May 15, which is Wednesday, so another player will have to be added instead.
Shawn Kelley struck out a career-high six batters of the seven he faced in 2 1/3 innings Friday night in the Yankees’ 11-6 victory over the Royals. The righthander became the first Yankees reliever to strike out at least six batters without allowing a base runner since May 4, 1981 when Ron Davis punched out a franchise record eight consecutive batters at Anaheim.
Kelley is part of an amazing run by the Yankees bullpen that has not allowed a run over the past four games totaling 12 1/3 innings. The relief corps has pitched to a 1.14 ERA in May over 23 2/3 innings and have held opposing hitters to a .171 batting average in 82 at-bats with six walks and 24 strikeouts.
Curtis Granderson played his second injury-rehabilitation game for Scranton Friday night against Gwinett (Braves) as the starting left fielder and had 1-for-5 with a game-winning two-run home run in the eighth inning. Granderson has 2-for-8 (.250) in two games in which he has played both left field and right field.
Untypical victory at Coors Field truly a team effort
Sometimes it comes down to one simple play. A blown hit-and-run play turned into an important stolen base for the Yankees that turned the ninth inning Wednesday night into a melodrama that sent them toward a very satisfying, dugout-emptying victory.
Normally when you hear the phrase “dugout-emptying,” it is in reference to a brawl. This time it was literal for the Yankees. With Eduardo Nunez still unavailable due to an irritated left ribcage, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was forced to use all the available players in an inter-league game at a National League park where the designated hitter is forbidden. Thank heaven this one didn’t go extra innings or you might have seen some pitchers playing elsewhere on the field.
The Yanks’ 3-2 victory over the Rockies was truly a team effort. The deciding run that was set up by a stolen base that should have been an out scored thanks to the hustle of Brennan Boesch, the Yankees’ third pinch hitter of the night, who beat out an infield hit with a dash down the first base line while Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado took ever-so-slightly too long to get off a throw.
Vernon Wells, who crossed the plate for the tiebreaking run, then trotted out to third base with his oversized outfield glove, marking the first time he had played the infield in a major-league game. Sure enough, a ball was hit to him, but he handled Carlos Gonzalez’s grounder with ease and got the second out of the inning. Mariano Rivera withstood a two-out single and a steal of second base by Michael Cuddyer to make it 12-for-12 in saves when he retired Wilin Rosario on a fly to center.
Wells, whose three-hit game included his seventh home run that accounted for the Yanks’ other two runs, was asked to play third base because starter Chris Nelson had been lifted earlier in the ninth for pinch hitter Travis Hafner, who struck out. Without Nunez, Girardi had no infielders he could call on, a situation that the manager had explained to Wells even before the game started.
It was also Wells who benefit from a dropped throw by shortstop Jonathan Herrera from catcher Rosario on a busted hit-and-run play. Wells, who had left off the inning with an infield single, ended up with a gift of a stolen base. Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt in a non-save situation was not sharp and walked Lyle Overbay. After Ichiro Suzuki bunted the runners over, Jayson Nix was intentionally walked to load the bases. Girardi had his ace in the hole in Hafner, but the DH without a spot in the starting lineup at Coors Field struck out.
Boesch was Girardi’s last available player to use as a pinch hitter for catcher Austin Romine (Chris Stewart would have to catch the bottom of the ninth). Arenado made a terrific stop of a hard grounder to his left by Boesch, but the third baseman glanced momentarily to second base before throwing to first where Boesch beat the play by a hair.
Pitchers played major parts for the Yankees as well. Starter David Phelps went six innings and was hurt only by a two-run homer by Todd Helton. Recent Triple A call-up Preston Claiborne pitched a 1-2-3 seventh (the righthander has retired all nine hitters he has faced in his first two appearances for the Yankees) and David Robertson added a scoreless eighth.
This is not the sort of stuff fans are used to seeing at Coors Field. Tuesday night, it was 2-0 Rockies. Seven runs in two games in a yard where every night it seems that seven runs are scored every two innings is pretty rare. The Yankees ended a five-game losing streak at Coors dating to June 20, 2002 and are 29-9 in games following shutout losses since Girardi became manager in 2008, including 3-0 this year.
Not a dandy Andy
From the beginning Sunday, it was an uneasy outing for Andy Pettitte against the Athletics in the finale of the homestand. The lefthander had trouble at the beginning of nearly every inning. He let the leadoff hitter reach base in the first four innings. In the fifth, the one inning in which he got the leadoff hitter out, Pettitte ended up allowing two runs on Yoenis Cespedes’ fifth home run of the season.
That was one of two long balls yielded by Pettitte. The other was a solo shot by designated hitter Luke Montz leading off the third. Montz had doubled off Pettitte leading off the second. Pettitte pitched out of the stretch almost continually during his 100-pitch outing in which he gave up four runs (three earned), five hits, four walks and hit a batter as his ERA climbed to 4.06.
“The issue is everything,” Pettitte said after the Yanks’ 5-4 loss. “It was just a battle out there. I had no command of my fastball. My release point is floating, and my cutter is nonexistent right now.”
The first run off Pettitte was not earned due to a wild throw to first base by Robinson Cano, the second baseman’s first error of the season. Cano got the run right back in the bottom of the third by following a two-out double by Brett Gardner with a single to center.
Pettitte’s early departure created the opportunity for recent Triple A call-up Preston Claiborne to make his major-league debut. Claiborne was impressive his first time out with a perfect sixth and seventh before giving way to Boone Logan, who ended up the loser for allowing a solo home run to Josh Donaldson in the eighth that unlocked a 4-4 score.
“Those were two important innings,” Yankee manager Joe Girardi said of Claiborne’s work.
The Yankees suffered another injury as shortstop Eduardo Nunez was removed from the game in the fifth inning because of an irritated left ribcage. Results of an MRI were negative. The Yanks hope this will not be an extended injury. They are headed for an inter-league series at Denver where they could be short-handed since pitchers must hit in those games. Jayson Nix will play shortstop and newly-acquired Chris Nelson third base. Nix had been taking ground balls at first base as part of his utility role but will be needed to play regularly with Nunez sidelined.
The Yankees got Pettitte off the hook with three runs in the sixth as A’s lefthander Jerry Blevins faltered in relief of starter Dan Straily against two left-handed hitters. Blevins hung a 1-2 curve to Ichiro Suzuki, who doubled into the right-field corner to drive in one run. After Nix struck out for the second out, Lyle Overbay, who had a strong homestand, won an eight-pitch battle and singled to center to knock home the tying runs.
Overbay, who is batting .368 in a five-game hitting streak with a triple, two homers and six RBI in 19 at-bats, had the Yankee Stadium crowd of 38,134 on its feet again in the eighth when he flied out to the warning track in right-center with two runners aboard for the third out. Gardner’s two-out single in the ninth off A’s closer Grant Balfour gave Cano another at-bat, but after a wild pitch Cano was intentionally walked before Vernon Wells ended the game by striking out.
Another good relief effort came from Shawn Kelley in the ninth after Josh Reddick doubled off Logan to start the inning. Kelley got the next three batters, two of them on strikeouts. Reddick’s hit was significant, by the way.
Reddick did not start Sunday, which was no surprise based on several factors. For one, Reddick bats left-handed, and the Yankees’ starting pitcher was the left-handed Pettitte (oddly, they have never faced each other). For two, Reddick is off to an awful start (.148 in 88 at-bats). For three, he had been worthless at Yankee Stadium. Reddick, a late-inning defensive replacement in right field, had the longest hitless streak of any batter in the history of the current Stadium covering 33 at-bats (22 with the A’s and 11 with the Red Sox), which ended with that double.
With a 2-for-3 game, Suzuki continued his punishment of Oakland pitching. A .328 hitter in 933 career at-bats against the A’s, Ichiro’s 306 hits are the most by an opposing player against the franchise since it moved to the Bay Area from Kansas City 45 years ago.
Yanks’ bats silent against Athletics
You would think that after 13 years of displaying one of the strongest outfield arms in the major leagues that Ichiro Suzuki would not be challenged. Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson in the sixth inning Friday night learned what so many before him already knew – that trying to take an extra base on Ichiro can be fruitless.
Suzuki played the carom of Donaldson’s drive off the top of the right field fence perfectly and threw a laser-beam relay to shortstop Eduardo Nunez at second base to nail Donaldson trying to stretch his hit into a double.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin had even more bases in mind as he convinced the umpiring crew to review the play when it appeared that a fan in the right field grandstand may have interfered with the ball, which might have made it a home run. After checking the videotape, the umpires upheld the initial ruling.
Yoenis Cespedes, who went to third base on Donaldson’s long single, eventually scored on a single to right by Derek Norris. A wild pitch by CC Sabathia put Norris on second base, but he at least learned a lesson. With two out, Nate Freiman got his third hit off Sabathia, a single to right. Norris, a catcher with not much speed, respected Suzuki’s arm and did not try to score. CC got out of the inning as Luke Montz grounded out.
As successful as Ichiro was in preventing runs, he could not do it alone. It did not take many for the A’s to come away the victor because the Yankees’ offense was shut down in a 2-0 loss. A.J. Griffin scattered six hits over seven-plus innings, one of them a two-strike bunt single by Brett Gardner, an example of the Yankees’ desperation against the righthander.
Sabathia was taken deep on the first pitch of the game. Shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first home run of the season. Sabathia settled down nicely but needed major help from second baseman Robinson Cano to get out of a fifth-inning jam. With runners on first and second and two out, Cano made one of his patented wide-ranging to the left grabs and across-the-body throws from the left side of second base to throw out Jed Lowrie at first base, a dandy of a run-saving play.
CC threw 118 pitches over six innings and allowed two runs, eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts and a wild pitch. He left on the losing side but had been effective enough to keep the Yankees in the game.
So did Adam Warren, who was one of the few bright spots for the Yankees. The righthander came out of the bullpen and supplied three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief with two walks and four strikeouts.
Yanks doing things right against lefties
That vulnerability the Yankees once showed against left-handed pitching appears to have worn away. Their 5-4 victory over the Astros Wednesday night improved the Yanks’ record to 8-3 in games started by left-handed opposing pitchers, including their past five at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have won six of the past eight games against left-handed starters.
Nevertheless, they continue to seek ways to bolster their lineup against lefties. After the game, the Yankees announced that they had acquired infielder Chris Nelson from the Rockies in a deal for cash considerations and/or a player to be named. Nelson, 27, was batting .242 in 66 at-bats for Colorado but apparently was available because Nolan Arenado was seeing more playing time at third base. Nelson was a .301 hitter with nine home runs and 53 RBI in 2012. He bats right-handed, can play third base and second base, although defense is not his strong suit. Nelson is expected to join the Yankees Friday night when they open a three-game series against Oakland.
The Yankees cleared space on the 40-man roster for Nelson by assigning catcher Francisco Cervelli (broken right hand) to the 60-day disabled list. They will have to make a move for the 25-man roster when Nelson is activated, most likely returning infielder Corban Joseph to Triple A Scranton.
With all their injuries, the Yankees have had to use left-handed batters against left-handed pitching, and it has worked out. Travis Hafner walked and scored in the second inning, and Robinson Cano belted his eighth home run in the third.
Lyle Overbay doubled, walked twice and made an alert base-running maneuver that led to the deciding run. In the sixth inning with the score 4-4, Overbay was on first base and Eduardo Nunez on third with one out when Ichiro Suzuki, another lefty swinger who had two hits, hit a grounder between first and second. Overbay stopped in the baseline and forced second baseman Jose Altuve to throw to first base while Nunez sprinted home before the Astros could complete the double play by throwing out Overbay in a rundown.
“It takes a heads-up play like that to prevent the double play from happening,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That is what veterans do. They don’t get frazzled by situations.”
Neither did the Yankees’ bullpen. David Phelps was okay in his start (four runs, eight hits, one walk, five strikeouts, two hit batters in 5 2/3 innings), but Boone Logan (2-1), David Robertson and Mariano Rivera (11-for-11 in saves) combined for 3 1/3 spotless, two-hit innings with four strikeouts.
It got a big scary for Mo in the ninth when rookie outfielder Brandon Barnes led off with a line single to right. Matt Dominguez hit the ball hard, too, but Cano made a back-handed stab and got an unassisted double play by tagging Barnes, who was running on the play. Rivera reared back and fired three strikes past Marwin Gonzalez to end a stretch of 16 consecutive dates of games in which the Yankees went 11-5 and won four of the five series.
Yanks’ legs plenty strong in this victory
Speed has not been that much an element to the Yankees’ offense this year. It was thought that they would suffer a power outage this season with the loss of several sluggers, but the Yankees continue to lead the American League in home runs with 36, the most recent coming on Lyle Overbay’s solo shot in the eighth inning of Tuesday night’s 7-4 victory over the Astros.
The Yankees’ other runs were due more to their legs than their brawn, which was good to see. They entered the game with nine stolen bases, the second lowest total in the league. They used thefts to help manufacture the first two runs. Travis Hafner got two of his three RBI because of the steals by Brett Gardner in the first inning and Ichiro Suzuki in the third.
Houston starter Philip Humber also helped the Yankees move around the bases by throwing four wild pitches in his six innings. Two came in the fifth inning in which the Yankees scored twice with only one ball reaching the outfield. Suzuki and Jayson Nix beat out infield hits, and a dash to first base by Brennan Boesch averted a double play and resulted in a run as well.
Eduardo Nunez ran from out of his helmet as usual to turn two of his three hits into doubles, the second of which led to a run in the three-run eighth on a single by Chris Stewart. They seemed like pad-on runs at the time, but the Astros rallied in the ninth against Shawn Kelley that prompted manager Joe Girardi to summon Mariano Rivera, who restored order with a strikeout and earned his 10th save.
Hafner and Suzuki also had three hits in the Yankees’ 15-hit assault. Humber’s record fell to 0-6. He is 4-11 since pitching that perfect game April 21 last year for the White Sox at Seattle.
Hiroki Kuroda overcame a shaky first three innings to pitch a four-hit shutout through seven innings. The Astros were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position over those first three innings and stranded seven base runners. Kuroda found himself after that and pitched to the minimum number of batters through the seventh and is now 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA.
The Astros didn’t score until Chris Carter hit a two-run home run off David Robertson in the eighth. They got two more runs off Kelley in the ninth before Rivera put the finishing touch on a surprisingly strong April for the Yankees, who posted a 16-10 record despite having six regular position players and two-fifths of the rotation on the disabled list during the month.
Yankees’ battery battered
Two innings after losing their starting catcher, Francisco Cervelli, to injury, the Yankees also lost their starting pitcher. Ivan Nova left the game after giving up a single to Rajai Davis, the Toronto designated hitter who was also responsible for Cervelli’s departure with a foul ball that struck the catcher in his right hand.
It was not immediately clear just what was wrong with Nova. He began the third inning by hitting Munenori Kawasaki with a pitch and then gave up a single up the middle to Davis. The ball was hit behind Nova and did not appear to touch him. It did hit the second base bag and went into center field, allowing Kawasaki to reach third base.
Nova was limping noticeably as he returned to the mound, prompting a visit from trainer Steve Donohue. Manager Joe Girardi wasted no time in bringing in another pitcher, David Phelps, who gave up a hit to his first batter, Colby Rasmus, that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Edwin Encarnacion had led off the second inning with a home run in front of the second deck in left field, his sixth homer of the season and his fourth in four consecutive games. The Yankees tied the score in the bottom of the second but made the least of a bases-loaded, none-out situation by getting just one run as Eduardo Nunez grounded into a fielder’s choice before Lyle Overbay hit into a double play.
There was a fear on the Yankees’ part that Cervelli may have suffered a fracture. Austin Romine was rumored to have been removed from Triple A Scranton’s game after one at-bat. He could be summoned to take Cervelli’s place on the roster. Romine is batting .333 with one home run and four RBI in 42 at-bats for the International League affiliate.
Andy fans 10, but Yanks blanked for 1st time
Alex Cobb, the impressive righthander who got the best of the Yankees Wednesday night for the Rays, was seven years old when Andy Pettitte broke into the major leagues with the Yankees in 1995. Yet there did not seem much of an age difference in this game.
At 40, Pettitte was to the task against Cobb. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t get much support from his teammates, which made the margin for error so slim. He was kicking himself for getting into trouble in the fifth inning when the Rays ended the scoreless duel with two runs, one of which was not earned.
That was due to an error by right fielder Brennan Boesch, who overran a single by Kelly Johnson that allowed runners to reach second base and third base with none out. Pettitte had put the lead runner on himself when he struck Jose Molina in the foot with a 1-2 cut fastball in the dirt. Andy went to work after that and struck out the next two hitters, but he got too much of the plate with a curve to Ben Zobrist, who lined a double to right-center to score both runners.
Zobrist has been something of a Pettitte killer. The switch hitter is batting .409 with a double and two home runs in 22 career at-bats against Pettitte, who gave up only another run on a leadoff home run by Sean Rodriguez off a first-pitch cutter. Pettitte had good stuff that led to a season-high 10 strikeouts but not enough to avoid absorbing his first loss of the season.
For the second time in three nights, the Yankees managed only two hits off a Tampa Bay starter over eight innings. Cobb came out of the game after giving up his third hit, a one-out single by Brett Gardner in the ninth. Ichiro Suzuki’s single off reliever Fernando Rodney brought the tying run to the plate for the Yankees, but Robinson Cano and Travis Hafner could not get the ball out of the infield as the Yanks suffered their first shutout loss of the year.
There were not too many bright spots for the Yankees despite Pettitte’s work (two earned runs in six innings) that is often sufficient enough for a victory. Sean Kelley supplied two solid innings of relief. Shortstop Eduardo Nunez made two sensational plays to rob Yunel Escobar and Molina of hits and also had one of the Yanks’ four hits.
It turned out to be a .500 trip (3-3) through Toronto and St. Pete, but the trek was considered a disappointment since the Yankees opened the swing with two victories. That they scored merely five runs in three games against the Rays indicates the strength of Tampa Bay’s pitching staff.
Jack O'Connell
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