Yankees get first win
Sanchez homers, Kluber pitches 4 strong innings against Blue Jays.
NEW YORK — It had been almost two years since Corey Kluber even had the chance to work out of a jam. The two-time Cy Young winner hadn’t pitched multiple innings since May 2019.
He’d spent months away from his teammates working to rehab from a broken arm and then a shoulder injury.
So just getting through four solid innings on Saturday was a big step for Kluber and a big step for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez homered and Jay Bruce singled in two runs as the Bombers got their first win of the season, 5-3 over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
“It was fun to get back out there, and have a chance to compete with boys. I think that I made pitches when I needed to,” Kluber said. “I think that there were a couple situations where I fell behind some guys and didn’t work my way back in the count and ultimately one of them ended up scoring, which is frustrating. For the most part when there was traffic out there, I was able to make pitches.”
The Yankees (1-1) brought in
Kluber on a one-year, $11 million deal to make big pitches. It was an educated gamble, with Kluber having done his rehab from a torn teres major muscle in his right shoulder under the guidance of Yankees head of sports performance Eric Cressey. They also had Kluber’s long track record of success.
While the Yankees have their ace in Gerrit Cole and their core of young sluggers like Sanchez and Aaron Judge, they will need others to step in to help if they are to live up to their expectations. They need Kluber to give them competitive innings this year if they are going to compete for a World Series.
Kluber had to work out of jams in the first, third and fourth innings. He got through four and gave up a home run to Marcus Semien, the first batter he faced in the fifth. He allowed two runs, though only one was earned because of a Sanchez throwing error. His command was spotty, walking three and hitting Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. He struck out five.
The 34-year-old needed 74 pitches to get through four plus one batter.
“I thought Corey threw the ball well. He had a pretty easy first couple innings there and then had to extend himself a little bit. He had that little stretch there where he lost the zone a little bit, but the movement on his pitches, the ability to move in and out, I thought was really good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I wasn’t gonna let him go more than 80-85 pitches, so unless he was real efficient or if he got in any trouble there I was gonna go get him.
“I thought overall it was another good step for him.”
And it’s some security for the Yankees, who will start three pitchers who threw a combined one inning in 2020. On Sunday, the they will start Domingo German, who missed last year’s coronavirus-shortened season serving a suspension under the league’s domestic violence policy. Wednesday, the Yankees will work in Jameson Taillon, who missed last year rehabbing from his second Tommy John surgery.
“They built up pretty well here in spring, obviously, still going a little shorter with them in these first couple of starts as they continue to build up that bandwidth and that pitch count,” Boone said. “Really just seeing how they’re able to hold their stuff, how they’re able to bounce back, how their bodies are responding and things like that.”
Like Kluber and Taillon, who the Yankees traded prospects to Pittsburgh for, Bruce was something of a gamble. The 34-year-old has just 53 big league starts at first base and has missed most of the last two seasons to injury. Still, with Luke Voit missing the first few weeks of the season to rehab from surgery to repair his torn meniscus, the Yankees were intrigued by Bruce’s lefthanded power bat and gave him a chance to prove he can still contribute in the majors. The single, his first hit of the season, drove in the two insurance runs.”