In a nail-biting situation, Betances toughs it out

In addition to winning ballgames left and right, the Yankees are tough as nails. For the second straight day a Yankee reliever had to work through a nail issue. Dellin Betances cut his right ring finger with his thumbnail Sunday in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 6-2 win over the Athletics, requiring trainer Steve Donohue to soak up blood.

Betances cut the finger with two outs in the eighth and was treated with a 3-1 count. After walking Khris Davis he struck out Matt Olson to end the inning. On Saturday, Aroldis Chapman pitched through a cracked fingernail; Chapman was available Sunday and warmed up as Chasen Shreve gave up a solo homer and then put two runners on.

“It’s happened (before) but I haven’t had that much blood,” Betances said. “I had a good amount of blood, so it was kind of hard to grip the ball toward the end. It happened after the second out. It just kept bleeding, kept bleeding, and Stevie had to come out there and try to dry it off. I was fortunate to get that last out there.”

Betances said he hasn’t had issues with nails but will keep his thumbnail shorter.

“It was just uncomfortable because the ball was kind of sliding back and forth in my hand. There was just too much blood there,” he said. “Just a small cut, but small cuts a lot of times bring out the most blood I guess.”

Betances pitched on consecutive days for the third time this season.