New York Post

Tanaka moved up, Happ pushed back

- By DAN MARTIN

Aaron Boone reiterated Wednesday the Yankees have yet to determine how they will use their rotation during the playoffs.

But they swapped the scheduled days for J.A. Happ and Masahiro Tanaka’s outings, with Tanaka now going on Thursday and Happ slated to go on Friday.

Boone said it was not an indication Happ had a setback with his left biceps tendinitis and Happ echoed that, saying he was OK and could have pitched Thursday.

The Yankees, who are one win from clinching the AL East, should be able to set up their playoff rotation however they want between now and the start of the ALDS on Oct. 4.

Boone indicated all starters were in play to start games in the playoffs and Tanaka said he was ready for whatever role he’s put in during October.

“We haven’t had any deep discussion­s about pitching in the playoffs,’’ Tanaka said through an interprete­r. “Whatever they tell me, I’m gonna go out and do that.”

Tanaka pointed to having pitched out of the bullpen in internatio­nal tournament­s like the WBC and the Olympics, as well as during his profession­al career in Japan. But he never has done it

in the majors.

Aaron Judge tried to make a diving catch on Albert Pujols’ single to right in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 loss to the Angels on Wednesday night and ended up landing hard and perhaps jamming his right shoulder. The right fielder spent the rest of the inning stretching and tending to the arm, although he stayed in the game, grounding out twice the rest of the way. Boone was hopeful Judge was fine. “I think so,’’ the manager said when asked if Judge was OK. “He was adamant about staying in the game. We’ll check on him further and hope it’s not a big deal.”

Judge provided the Yankees’ only offense with his third-inning two-run homer. He has hit 12 homers in his past 25 games after not hitting any in his previous 13 games. The 12 homers in 25 games matched his home run total for his first 69 games.

Adam Ottavino allowed a run — scoring on his wild toss home on a comebacker — for a fourth straight outing. He said he saw Michael Hermosillo break from third and rushed his throw to the plate.

Ottavino and Boone thought his stuff was better than his previous outing in Toronto.

“At times I made some pitches, but it’s a do or don’t league, and I didn’t do it today,’’ Ottavino said. “Ultimately, for me, I believe in myself and I’ll just continue to work and hopefully great pitching is right around the corner for me.’’

Dellin Betances was placed on the 60-day injured list, opening a roster spot for the return of Giancarlo Stanton.

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