Twist their arms
Yanks alter rotation in second half
BOSTON — Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda will start the first two games of the second half when the Yankees resume play after the All-Star break in a series against the visiting Mariners. Tanaka will pitch the opener Friday.
And the Yankees perhaps also gave a hint to how they’ll handle CC Sabathia going forward by slotting him third in the rotation because of Seattle’s lefty-leaning lineup. Sabathia is struggling this season with a 5.47 ERA, but he’s holding lefties to a .191 average and .456 OPS.
“You try to get everyone almost equal rest as we move into the second half,” Joe Girardi said.
“Seattle has a good number of left-handed hitters, so we put (Sabathia) there. And everyone gets about eight days (of rest).”
Nathan Eovaldi, who started Sunday’s first-half finale at Fenway, is slated to pitch the opener of a series against the Orioles and then it’ll be Ivan Nova’s turn.
The Yankees threw Sabathia against the A’s last week in an effort to have him face as many lefties as possible. Asked about manipulating the rotation in a similar way beyond the Seattle series, Girardi said, “Well, you could match it up the first time. You can’t really know how it’s going to play out the rest of the year, as teams are going to make trades and do things.
“You don’t want to give everyone too many days off because then they just get out of rhythm.”
Girardi also opined that Sabathia will pitch better, especially if he can pitch with “consistent location,” a problem that plagued his first half.
“The ability is there,” he said. “We know that. I have confidence in him.
“We need him to pitch well. We need all of the guys to carry their equal load, all five starters.”
REF RULES FOR FANS
Rob Refsnyder met with the fans who caught the ball from his first big-league homer and traded some signed baseballs for the memento. He said he was going to give the ball and the lineup card to his parents, who were at the game.
Refsnyder was very appreciative of the fans swapping the ball, saying, “They were really nice, great fans.
“They obviously didn’t have to do that. But I don’t think they really realized how much that meant to me. So I’m really thankful. Good guys, for sure.”
SUNDAY RUN DAY
Carlos Beltran (left oblique strain) ran the bases at Fenway Sunday as a final test before heading to Tampa Monday to play rehab games.
Beltran said everything went well running the bases. He will work out one day at the Yanks’ complex in Tampa and then begin games, though he said he doesn’t know how many he will play.
He hopes to be activated for the start of the second half.