Mitchell pitches his ‘best game of the year’
That guy, manager Joe Girardi said afterwards, was the Bryan Mitchell the Yankees saw at the end of spring training and before a season-ripping injury.
Mitchell, with seven scoreless twohit innings in the Yankees’ 5-3 win over the Red Sox, “pitched his best game of the year,” according to Girardi. It was Mitchell’s longest outing and his curveball worked effectively.
“I definitely feel good about that. It was the plan early on because when I get that going it’s usually one of my better games,” Mitchell said of his curveball. “It helps my fastball. I was just throwing as hard as I could, throwing every pitch with conviction.” And results. “It was the first night I thought we saw the curveball that we saw at the end of spring training, the curveball that he has,” Girardi said of Mitchell, who missed most of the season after suffering a big toe injury late in spring training. “It took a while for him to get comfortable and get going again.”
Lefty James Pazos (1-0) came on in the ninth and retired David Ortiz with a man on to record his first major league victory. ... The win ensured a winning record for the Yankees (82-76). ... Brett Gardner reached safely four times with two singles and two walks. ... Girardi said the Yankees had heard nothing regarding a possible suspension for Luis Severino stemming from Monday’s brawls in Toronto.
Girardi said there still has been no decision regarding Masahiro Tanaka’s status for Saturday. The righty, shut down because of a strained flexor mass in his right forearm, played catch Tuesday and said he wanted to pitch again.
“I’m not sure what we’ll do. I’ve got to see where he is health-wise more than anything,” Girardi said.
Twice is coincidence. Four times is a plan.
Yankees rookie Tyler Austin insisted his home run portfolio was more coincidence than anything else. Austin, since his Aug. 13 call-up, has hit four homers, all of them giving the Yankees a lead, all of them to right field, all of them at Yankee Stadium.
“I guess it’s just a coincidence that all four have gone to right field,” Austin said. “My approach is set to right center field so when I’m going well, I’m driving the ball to that side of the field.”
Girardi said he expected Austin to start Thursday against scheduled lefty Henry Owens.
According to the YES Network, Didi Gregorius (20) and Starlin Castro (21) are only the third shortstop-second baseman combination, both aged 26 or younger, in history to have 20 homers in the same season. The others are Houston’s Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve this season and Alex Rodriguez and David Bell for Seattle in 1999.
“I’m not sure I would have predicted that,” Girardi said. “I always felt that Didi would hit for power. I had a better understanding of who Didi was, more than Starlin [who] I knew had power — I saw him hit home runs in Chicago but I’m not so sure I would have predicted that. I might have predicted one maybe, not both.”