Yanks win the battle of Britton
The Yankees improved their pitching Tuesday night — just not their starting pitching.
They agreed to a deal for Orioles closer Zach Britton in exchange for three pitching prospects. The Yankees announced the deal in a press release late Tuesday night.
The deal sends RHP Dillon Tate, RHP Josh Rogers and LHP Cody Car- roll to Baltimore, which means GM Brian Cashman is still hold- ing tight to prized prospects Justus and Clint Frazier.
The 24-year-old Tate, however, is a solid prospect who is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 82.2 innings pitched for Double-A Trenton. Carroll, a reliever, is 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA and nine saves for Triple-A Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, and Rogers, his teammate in Scranton, is 6-8 with a 3.95 ERA.
The Bombers already had the most vaunted bullpen in the league with the combination of David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman, but their firethrowing closer has been hampered by knee tendinitis that the Yankees have said he will continue to push through. Chapman looked awful in his outing against the Mets on Saturday, giving up three earned runs without recording an out. He allowed an infield single, walked three and hit a batter.
If Aaron Boone wants to give Chapman some respite on his injured knees down the stretch, Britton can easily step into the closer role at times. The Orioles closer made back-to-back All-Star games in 2015 and 2016, recording 36 and 47 saves respectively. In 2016, he was a perfect 47-for-47 in save opportunities.
Britton missed the start of this season after undergoing surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon and has pitched only 15.2 innings with four saves so far. But he has been nearly unhittable since June 30, allowing just three hits and zero runs while striking out six in his last eight appearances, over which he has three saves and a win.
While the Yankees have yet to fix their starting pitching issues, more moves could be on the horizon in that regard, but for one night at least they got a strong outing from a starter who has been inconsistent for much of the season.
Masahiro Tanaka pitched a three-hitter, Austin Romine drove in two runs as the replacement for again-injured catcher Gary Sanchez and the Yankees beat the Rays, 4-0, on Tuesday night at the Trop. Tanaka (8-2) retired his first 12 batters before C.J. Cron singled leading off the fifth. He struck out nine and walked one, improving to 6-0 on the road. It was the sixth complete game and third shutout for Tanaka, his first complete game since a three-hit shutout at Boston on April 27 last year.