Taillon looks to Bieber for inspiration
CLEVELAND — After his second Tommy John surgery, Jameson Taillon knew he would have to change his delivery in order to get back and pitch effectively in the big leagues and stay healthy.
He looked around baseball to see what other pitchers were doing. Looking to shorten up a longer delivery, Taillon really liked what he saw from Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber.
So Saturday night, the Yankees righthander was excited to have a front-row seat to watch Bieber deal against his friend Gerrit Cole.
He was treated to a pitchers’ duel. Cole allowed three hits and one run in seven innings, striking out 11 as the Yankees won, 2-1. Beiber was impressive, too, giving up four hits and two runs in seven innings, striking out nine and walking two.
Aaron Hicks and Rougned Odor hit solo home runs in the fifth inning for the Yankees off of Beiber. The Indians had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth.
“I’m really excited,” Taillon said. “Bieber is one of the guys that I changed my mechanics and I’d watched him throw a lot over the past couple of years —and even before he really broke out— as a fan of the way he threw the ball. So he was kind of an inspiration for what I did with my mechanics. There are a few guys around the league that I’ve watched and said like, man, that was really efficient, really clean .’ So I’ m a fan of him from across the way.”
Taillon will close out the series against Cleveland on Sunday, coming off his best start as a Yankee. He only went four innings, but he gave the Yankees the chance to snap their losing streak Tuesday night. He allowed one earned run and four hits, struck out five and walked one against the Braves. He lowered his ERA from 7.46 to 5.40 in that start.
He is seeing progress as he returns from not having pitched since May 2019.
“I thought I made a lot of good progress with the curve ball. I wasn’ t getting it involved enough in spring and in my first few outings . ... I started with my curve ball, and I took that into my( bull pen session) and wanted to make sure that that was for real and that it’s going to be the same going forward,” Taillon said before Saturday night’s game. “So, I locked that in and then just continued to drive my fastball in the right lanes at the top of the zone. That’ s all command and something that can always be kind of cleaned up so I’m just going to continue on that.”
Boone tinkers with lineup: Looking to find the right formula toge this sluggers going, Yankees manager Aaron Boone has flipped Giancarlo Stanton up to the No .2 hole and dropped Aaron Judge, who normally hits second when both are in the lineup, into the third spot for the fourth time this season.
It worked Friday night as the Yankees scored five runs with two coming from monster solo shots by Stanton.
“I think it’s a little bit of a product of us going through a little struggle and with some days off here and there, just kind of juggling some things up a little bit,” Boone said. “Really, those two spots for me, if I’m going with both of those guys , are a little bit interchangeable. So It’s a little bit of a let’s just stick with it.”
On Saturday, Stanton was 1- for -4 and Judge 1-for-3, hitting a double.
Lined up: The Yankees will start Deivi Garcia on Monday to open the series in Camden Yards against the Orioles, if all goes as planned. Garcia made six starts last season pitching to a 4.98 ERA over 34.1 innings. He is on the road trip as part of the taxi squad.
Schmidt starting again: Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees top pitching prospect who was expected to contribute this season, finally got his second spring training started. After straining his right elbow in the very first bullpen of spring training, back in February, Schmidt was shut down until last week.