Garcia, Monty added to bolster pen
CLEVELAND — Luis Severino’s six-batter outing in Tuesday night’s wild-card game continued to impact the Yankees on Thursday, when they opened the ALDS against the Indians with a 4-0 loss.
Because four relievers had to get 26 outs against the Twins, Joe Girardi had to shuffle his pitching staff for Game 1 of the best-of-five series.
Talking before Sonny Gray was outdueled by Trevor Bauer at Progressive Field in the Yankees’ first postseason series since 2012, Girardi ruled David Robertson and Chad Green unavailable for Game 1 and said he wasn’t sure if he would have the right-handers for Game 2 on Friday, either.
“I hope so, yeah,’’ Girardi said when asked about Robertson and Green for the second tilt.
Because of the short-handed bullpen against the muscular Indians lineup, Girardi added lefty starters Jaime Garcia and Jordan Montgomery to the ALDS roster. Masahiro Tanaka, who is slated to start Game 3, also was added.
Garcia got in Thursday’s game and pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, walking two and striking out two.
To make room for the trio, lefty reliever Chasen Shreve, outfielder Clint Frazier and utility man Tyler Wade were dropped.
“We went with two longer guys because of what we went through on Tuesday,’’ Girardi said. “Knowing that if something like that happens again you could really fry your bullpen.’’
After opting to use Jacoby Ellsbury as the designated hitter in the wild-card game, Girardi inserted the switch-hitting Chase Headley into the spot Thursday and turned Ellsbury into a bench player.
“It’s kind of what we do, we look atbats against the starting pitching and his at-bats and [Headley’s] at-bats have been a little bit better than Jake’s,’’ Girardi said. “That’s why we went in this direction.’’
Ellsbury went 0-for-4 and Headley went 0-for-2 with a walk in the loss to the Indians.
It wasn’t a secret the Yankees were hoping to run on Jason Kipnis — the Indians’ second baseman, who played center field in Game 1 — if the chance presented itself. Kipnis was shifted to center when injuries decimated the position and has what some scouts rate as a below average right arm.
The Yankees didn’t get a chance to run on Kipnis, but he did rob Headley of an extra-base hit in the third inning with a diving catch in the left-center field gap.
Time for a correction: It was reported in this space that Hal Steinbrenner wasn’t slated to be at Yankee Stadium for the AL wild-card game, but he was there.
“Hal has been great. He was around all day Monday when we worked out and I saw him on Tuesday,’’ Girardi said. “I have not seen him here [Cleveland] yet and I am not sure he is here, but he always keeps in contact.’’