The Yankees opened up the critical three game series, six total this month, against the Blue Jays with a win. Chase Whitley (2-0, 2.41 ERA) takes on Mark Buehrle (10-3, 2.28 ERA) in game two tonight. Whitley has continued to improve, earning his spot in the rotation. He is coming off his best outing of the year against the Mariners, allowing two runs on five hits going a career high 7 2/3 innings. The rookie hasn’t walked a batter in four straight starts. “I’m just going out and competing, and pitching the game that I’ve been pitching since I’ve been able to pitch at an early age,” said Whitley.
“This is a guy that’s really never thrown anything more than 95 innings in a season, because he’s been a reliever most of the time,” said Joe Girardi. “But he’s kept his pitch count down. He’s been aggressive and uses his stuff well.”
Buehrle is coming off back to back losses for the first time all year. He allowed just one run in seven innings in a loss to the Cardinals and followed it up with a four run loss in 6 1/3 against the Orioles on Thursday. “There were times I made a lot of mistakes, and they made me pay for them,” Buehrle said, “and then I made a few good pitches, and they put the ball in play and got some base hits.” He is 1-10 in 16 starts against the Yanks lifetime. His 6.02 ERA against is higher than any other opponent he’s faced. He was 0-4 against the Yankees last season, giving up 18 runs and five homers.
CC Sabathia threw off a mound Monday for the first time since May 10th. He also pitched a bullpen session which was the next step in his rehab from a right knee stem cell injection . Girardi still doesn’t have a specific date for his return. “We don’t really have a time frame yet,” said Girardi. “He’ll throw another bullpen [session Wednesday], and then we’ll just continue to increase the amount of pitches and the pitches that he throws. I think he’s going to mix in some other pitches Wednesday, and mix in a slider as well.”
Notes on the game
Whitley has recorded at least five innings and allowed five hits or fewer and no walks in each of his last three starts. He hasn’t walked a batter in his last four starts, the longest active streak in the Majors.
Jacoby Ellsbury had his 17 game hitting streak snapped Saturday in Oakland, marking the end of the longest active streak in the Majors at the time.
Yankees are 4-1 this season against the Jays.
First pitch at 7:05 PM on Yes.
