THE BEL' TOLLS
Carlos' bat continues to carry Yanks in win over Chisox
Remember April? That’s when Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez helped carry the Yankees’ offense and Carlos Beltran looked like a weak link.
But now, as September winds down and Teixeira is out for the season with a fractured leg and Rodriguez is wheezing toward the finish line, it’s Beltran who is leading the way for the lineup.
He kept it up Thursday with a threerun homer off White Sox lefty Chris Sale to provide all the runs Michael Pineda and the bullpen would need in a 32 victory over the White Sox that got the Yankees back to within three games of the idle Blue Jays in the AL East. Their magic number to clinch a wildcard berth shrank to five.
“Right now, it feels like I have a chance at the plate,” said Beltran, who attributed his success to using his lower half more. “My lower body feels good and I have a good foundation. I’m seeing the ball well.”
It paid off on one swing against Sale, as Beltran ripped a 22 pitch just over the leftfield wall to give the Yankees a 30 lead.
“I tried to do anything possible to keep the inning alive,” Beltran said. “As soon as I hit it, I thought it was gonna be a double, but the ball kept going.”
And after Pineda gave up just one run in six innings, the big three of the Yankees’ bullpen, Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, were able to get the final nine outs.
Not without some difficulty, though.
For as strong as Beltran is finishing the season, Betances is staggering.
He entered with two outs and two on in the seventh, replacing Wilson.
Betances walked Melky Cabrera to load the bases then walked Trayce Thompson to force in a run before striking out Adam LaRoche to preserve the onerun lead.
The formerly unhittable Betances returned to form in the eighth, ending the inning by blowing a 100 mph fastball past Tyler Flowers.
“I feel like my timing’s off,” Betances said. “It’s frustrating. I’m limiting the damage, but I can’t keep putting myself in that situation.”
Over his past eight appearances, Betances has walked 11 batters in 9 ¹/₃ innings.
“We try to watch his innings and give him his days off,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I just think he’s going through a little thing. He’ll be fine.”
Unless he won’t be. And then suddenly the fearsome back end of the Yankees’ bullpen doesn’t look so fearsome. Betances has been working with pitching coach Larry Rothschild on his mechanics, to no avail.
“When you’re 68 and not throwing strikes, it’s going to be mechanical issues,” Girardi said. “But when he’s had to make the pitches, he’s made the pitches. All pitchers can get a little out of whack. I still feel really good when he goes out there.”
Miller came on and pitched a scoreless ninth in his first game since throwing 42 pitches — and allowing two homers — in Tuesday’s victory in Toronto.
So while the Yankees try to fix Betances, they’ll hope to ride Beltran into the postseason.
“In handling our players that aren’t so young, I think about it a lot early on,” Girardi said of giving players such as Beltran days off. “The idea is to get them to this point without them being on the DL or so fatigued that they can’t play and aren’t productive.”
It’s worked for Beltran, who is doing his best not to think about the playoffs.
“I feel like things are going well,” Beltran said. “I’m enjoying the moment.”