Team notes,
Baltimore Orioles
Right-handed pitcher Dylan
Bundy has been critical to Baltimore’s early success.
The fourth overall pick in 2011 improved to 3-1 in four starts with seven scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox on April 21, his second consecutive scoreless outing. He has gone at least six innings in each start.
Bundy, who missed the 2013 season because of Tommy John elbow surgery, credits adding a cutter back to his repertoire for his performance. He shelved the pitch last season because he thought it might have led to forearm issues during the 2015 Arizona Fall League.
“We could tell he gained a lot of confidence from last year and felt good physically,” manager Buck
Showalter told MLB.com. “There were a lot of things in his favor to get off to a good start. He really came into camp in good shape and his arm felt really good, and he’s taken it and run with it.”
uWith Zach Britton on the disabled list, right-hander Brad
Brach took over as closer and became the fifth pitcher in team history to record saves on three consecutive days without allowing a baserunner (Britton is one of the other four). Brach needed 33 pitches to retire all nine batters he faced in that span.
Boston Red Sox
Manager John Farrell was faced with an interesting decision when second baseman Dustin
Pedroia left the game April 21 at Camden Yards after getting spiked by Baltimore’s Manny Machado. Backup infielder Marco Her
nandez already had been in the game, playing in place of shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who was out with a sore left thumb. But Hernandez had been pinch-hit for in the top of the inning.
Utilityman Brock Holt, who sat out 10 of the team’s first 16 games, had been placed on the DL earlier in the day because of vertigo.
That meant Pablo Sandoval had to move from third base to play second, and backup outfielder Steve Selsky had to go to third. Both were playing those positions for the first time in their professional careers.
After watching Pedroia get taken out, Farrell didn’t want to use right fielder Mookie Betts at second. Betts played second in the minors and in 14 major league games in 2014.
“I’m not going to take that chance with Mookie Betts,” Farrell said.
Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a pitch behind Machado’s head Sunday and got a four-game suspension, which he appealed.
uDavid Price (forearm) threw breaking balls off a mound for the first time since he injured his elbow Feb. 28. There was no timetable for his return.
New York Yankees
When Brett Gardner was out of the lineup April 22 at the Pittsburgh Pirates, it wasn’t just because he was struggling.
Manager Joe Girardi also wanted to find playing time for
Aaron Hicks, who lost out on the right-field job to Aaron Judge in spring training but entered the game batting .321 with four home runs, nine RBI and seven runs in 11 games.
“Sometimes people question why I sit a guy here or sit a guy there,” Girardi said. “You can’t have one at-bat every week and expect a guy to be productive. You have to get guys at-bats because they’re going to come up in big situations.”
Hicks went 1-for-3 with a double and two walks and scored two more runs. Gardner, the longesttenured member of the team, was back in the lineup Sunday, batting leadoff, and went 0-for-3 to drop his average to .182. uCC Sabathia’s loss April 21 at Pittsburgh was his first to the Pirates in seven outings, dropping him to 4-1 with a 1.84 ERA. It also was his first loss in four decisions this season.
Tampa Bay Rays
Reliever Xavier Cedeno was placed on the disabled list because of forearm tightness, leaving the Rays without a left-handed reliever for the first time since April 24, 2015. Cedeno was acquired later that week.
But manager Kevin Cash thinks he has the answer: righthander Danny Farquhar.
“We’re fortunate we’ve got a guy like Danny Farquhar that matches up pretty well against lefties,” Cash said. “But we’ll have to find some other guys that can go in there and get some big outs against (lefties).
“Obviously, you’re not going to replace (Cedeno) because of what he’s provided for us over the past two years. But we will just have to find a way.”
Left-handed hitters have a .216 batting average against Farquhar in his six-year career. Righties are batting .256.
Cash wanted to get Farquhar some rest first, however.
“We’ve used Danny a lot,” Cash said. “Once we kind of get him freshened back up, we could probably see him in a very heavy lefthanded role.”
uWhen right-hander Alex Cobb picked off the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve in the fourth and fifth innings April 21, it was the first time in 14 years a pitcher picked off the same baserunner twice in the same game.
uRight- hander Tommy Hunter was placed on the DL on Sunday because of a right calf strain, giving the Rays 11 players on the DL, most in the majors.
Toronto Blue Jays
Jose Bautista ended a streak of 67 regular-season at-bats without a home run, dating to Sept. 30, when he hit a three-run shot in the 13th inning April 21 to give the Blue Jays a much needed victory at the Los Angeles Angels.
He had ended a 0-for-20 slide with a ninth-inning single.
“There’s no doubt that was huge for him,” Blue Jays manager
John Gibbons said. “I think he can exhale a little bit. I know he’s just a time bomb waiting to explode.”
It was the latest (16 games) that Bautista has hit his first home run in a full season in his 14-year career.
“I’m not going to go out there and try to hit a home run every time,” he said.
uLeft- hander J.A. Happ (elbow) felt discomfort after a throwing session April 20. He likely won’t return before the first week of May.
uThe Blue Jays lost each of the first five series of the season for the first time in team history.
“I don’t even know what the rule is. I’ve turned the best double play in the major leagues for 11 years. I don’t need a (expletive) rule — let’s be honest. The rule’s irrelevant. The rule’s for people with bad footwork.” Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, after getting spiked when Baltimore’s Manny Machado slid into second base April 21, on the rule meant to protect middle infielders