Yankees 2, Orioles 3 (F/10): Hiroki Kuroda's strong effort not enough to beat Baltimore

Entering the night just four games back of the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles, Hiroki Kuroda took the mound for the Yankees with a chance to close the gap this weekend as the two teams opened up a three-game series on Friday at Camden Yards. Kuroda pitched a great game, but it wasn't enough for the Yanks to beat the O's, who walked off in the 10th inning for a 3-2 win.

Brian Roberts, who returned home to Baltimore for the first time since signing with the Yankees over the winter, opened the scoring with a solo homerun off of Miguel Gonzalez in the 2nd inning, giving the Bombers a 1-0 lead. An inning later, in the 3rd, Kelly Johnson, the DH for the night, made it a 2-0 game with a solo shot of his own to open the inning.

And that was all she wrote for the Yankees' offense, which had another poor game collecting just seven hits, including those two solo homeruns.

Kuroda had only given up one hit through the first three innings -- a Nick Hundley single with two outs in the 3rd -- and was pitching pretty well until the Orioles scored a pair of runs in the 4th to tie the game.

Kuroda hit Steve Pearce to open the inning, then Adam Jones reached on an infield single hit to Derek Jeter; that set up runners on the corners with nobody out. With Nelson Cruz at the plate, Pearce scored on a wild pitch by Kuroda. Cruz struck out, then with Chris Davis at the plate, Kuroda threw another wild pitch that got Jones to third. He would come in to score on a sac-fly by Davis, making it a 2-2 game.

I missed not of the game, so I didn't get to see how well Kuroda actually pitched, but his numbers suggest that it was a pretty good night. He made it through seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits, without a walk and three strikeouts, throwing 103 pitches.

Gonzalez, for Baltimore, was just as good, pitching eight innings of two-run ball, giving up six hits with five strikeouts on 106 pitches.

Dellin Betances pitched two very strong innings for the Yankees, retiring six of the seven Orioles hitters he faced in the 8th and 9th -- hitting Pearce with a pitch in the 8th -- to help send the game to extra innings.

Adam Warren, who last faced the O's on June 22 in New York when he was tagged for four runs in one inning, opened on the mound for the Yankees in the 10th. Manny Machado led off with a double into the right field corner. Warren struck out Ryan Flaherty for the first out of the inning, but the next batter, Hundley, ended the game with a walk-off single up the middle.

Another tough loss for the Yankees, who fall back to .500 on the season at 46-46. They wasted a good start from Kuroda by not scoring enough runs in a pretty winnable game. We can talk all day about the mangled pitching staff, but the offense hasn't been anything special either.

Shane Greene and Chris Tillman will be on the mound for their teams Saturday afternoon, when the Yankees continue this three-game series at 4:05 pm ET.

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Yankees' bullpen keeping the team afloat through the first half of the season

With just three games left before the All Star Game, the New York Yankees haven't had many bright spots. Despite sitting just four games out of first place in the inept American League East, the Yankees have won just one more game than they have lost (46-45).

The Yankees have suffered injury after injury to their pitching staff, and after the news of Masahiro Tanaka heading to the disabled list, Joe Girardi has now lost 80 percent of his starting rotation since Opening Day. One of the only reasons the Yankees even have slim playoff chances is the back end of the bullpen.

With the loss of future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera to retirement it was expected that the New York bullpen would take a step back from dominance in previous years that saw a 1-2 punch of Rivera and Robertson in the eighth and ninth innings. To borrow the phrase from ESPN's Lee Corso, not so fast my friend.

Robertson has taken the mantle from Rivera and has pitched as well as expected with 22 saves in 24 opportunities with a 2.84 ERA to go with 57 strikeouts and just 10 walks in 31 2-3 innings. In Robertson's two blown saves, he's allowed seven earned runs in just one inning. Roberston has 16.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

As good as Robertson has been in the first half of the season, rookie Dellin Betances has been much better. The 6'8 fireballer has struck out 81 batters in just 53 1-3 innings with just 16 walks. Betances has a 0.731 WHIP and a 1.52 ERA.

Betances, a 2014 All Star, has a legitimate case as the most dominant reliever in all of baseball. His mix of pitches, which starts with a high 90s fastball and a devastating curve ball has left nearly every batter he's faced on the defensive almost immediately.

There has been talk that Betances should move to the ninth inning and put Robertson in the set-up role where he excelled in the past, but that is premature. Robertson is one of the best closers in baseball and at this point there is no reason Girardi should consider a change. You could say that is a nice problem to have in a season that is surely giving Girardi more gray hairs.

The third man in the back end of the Yankee bullpen is Adam Warren. Warren isn't as flashy or as dominant as Betances or Robertson, but he has struck out 45 and walked 15 in 48 innings with a 2.63 ERA. He's been stable and given Girardi a reliable arm out of the bullpen to provide depth for the other two.

Together Warren, Betances and Robertson have formed a deadly three-headed monster that has the ability to shorten every game to six innings. It could have been even more deadly if not for the rash of injuries that has fallen on the Yankee starting rotation, instead Girardi has to give away some games to retain the health of Betances and Warren, but that hasn't stopped those three from giving the Yankees one of the best bullpen tandems in the game.

With the news that Tanaka might not pitch for the rest of the season, the Yankees will continue to try and squeeze wins out of a lack of starting pitching depth, but if they're going to reach the postseason in Derek Jeter's final season, the bullpen will be key.

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Yankees 5, Indians 3: Shane Greene impressive in first big league start

With Vidal Nuno shipped off to Arizona and Brandon McCarthy still on his way to meeting the team in Cleveland, the Yankees turned to right-hander Shane Greene on Monday night after recalling him from Triple-A before the game to make his first big league start. Greene was quite impressive in his third stint in the majors this season, tossing six innings of two-run ball to help the Yankees down the Indians, 5-3, in the opening of a four-game series this week at Progressive Field.

After jumping out to a 9-0 lead over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, the Yankees, again, wasted no time putting runs on the board against Indians starter Justin Masterson, who didn't last very long in this one.

Brian McCann and Brian Roberts opened the 2nd inning with back-to-back doubles to put the Yankees up 1-0. Ichiro Suzuki, who had three hits on the night, singled to left -- Roberts rounded third base to come home, but slipped trying to stop; the cut-off throw, though, was thrown to second base, where Ichiro was tagged out in a rundown for the first out of the inning. Masterson walked Kelly Johnson and hit Francisco Cervelli to load the bases. After Brett Gardner singled home Roberts to make it a 2-0 game, Derek Jeter walked with the bases loaded to force in the third run of the inning.

Masterson was lucky enough to get out of the inning without allowing another run when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a hard groundball down the first base line that, Carlos Santana dove to make the stop while tagging first base then throwing to the plate to nail Cervelli for the final out.

But Masterson didn't get to last much longer. He walked Mark Teixeira to open the 3rd, then McCann singled to put runners on first and second base with nobody out. Terry Francona decided that he had seen enough, pulling Masterson from the game after two-plus inning, eventually being charged with five runs on six hits, with three walks and a strikeout.

Kyle Crockett entered for the Indians, gave up an infield single to Ichiro that scored Teixeira, which made it a 4-0 game. He balked to move both runners up 90 feet, then hit Johnson to load the bases. The Yankees, at least, got a run with the bases loaded this time, grounded into a fielder's choice at second base to score a run and keep the inning alive. However, Gardner struck out a batter late -- Gardner, by the way, went 3-for-4 and raised his batting average to .289 on the year.

Crockett wasn't charged for the two runs, and the Indians' bullpen gave up none at all, getting through the final six innings after the 3rd without giving up a run. The Yankees came out firing away in the first couple of inning, but couldn't really do anything after Masterson was removed. At least it was enough runs to get the job done.

It was also enough for Greene, who recorded a quality start in his first big league start. He looked good in six innings of work, giving up just two runs on four hits, while striking out two without a walk. His stuff was moving well early in the game, and I think that he may have earned himself another starter if the Yankees were planning to give him one.

Greene had a no-hitter going through 4.2 innings. The first hit of the game was also the same hit that broke up the shutout -- a solo homerun off the bat of Nick Swisher, deep into the left field seats to put Cleveland on the board, making it a 5-1 game.

Cleveland made the game a little bit closer against Greene on the 6th, scoring their secodn run against him on an Asdrubal Cabrera single that scored Chris Dickerson, who singled with one out and moved to second base on a Jason Kipnis groundout. Two batters later, with runners on 1st and 2nd, Greene got Santana to fly out to right field to end the inning.

David Huff took over on the mound for the Yankees to start the 7th. He worked a scoreless inning, then Yan Gomes opened the 8th with a solo homerun that pulled the Indians within two runs. Huff then hit Mike Aviles, forcing Joe Girardi to bring in his All-Star reliever, Dellin Betances, who was pitching for the first time since Friday. Betances set down six of the seven hitters he face -- only one strikeout -- to pick the six-out save, the first save of his big league career, while sealing Greene's first major league victory.

The Yankees and Indians will continue this series tomorrow on Tanaka Tuesday, as Masahiro Tanaka will go for his 13th win of the season, matching up against right-hander Trevor Bauer at 7:05 pm ET.

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

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Derek Jeter, Masahiro Tanaka and Dellin Betances named to AL All-Star team

The rosters for the 85th annual MLB All-Star Game were announced on Sunday night. The Yankees will be sending three players, at least (injuries and other things will alter the roster before the game), to Minnesota one week from Tuesday, and to no surprise, Derek Jeter will be one of them after being the leading vote getter of all American League Shortstops with over 3.9 million votes.

Jeter will be joined at Target Field by a pair of rookie pitchers -- Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka, and Dellin Betances, who has been the team's best bullpen arm this season.

Jeter, who turned 40 a couple weeks ago, is hitting .271 this season after picking up three more hits on Sunday in the Yankees' 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins.

In what will be the 14th and final All-Star Game of his Hall of Fame career, Jeter will certainly be the center piece of the game, and it'll be really interesting to see how he's treated during the game and how he leaves, just as it was watching Mariano Rivera enter and leave the game last year in New York.

Tanaka signed with the Yankees in January, and has taken the league by storm. Arguably the best pitcher in the American League this season -- definitely the top rookie -- Tanaka is 12-3 this season with a 2.27 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 130 strikeouts in 122.2 innings. Tanaka has a great case to start the All-Star Game, but he is slated to pitch against the Orioles next Sunday, which would pretty much rule him out of pitching at all in the game. Bummer, right?

As for Betances, this kid has been a great story this season, being named to the All-Star team during his first year in the big leagues. A youngster with a bright future as a starter, the Yankees converted him to the bullpen, gave him a shot during the spring, and he's made the very most of it.

With one of the best K/9 in the league (not better than David Robertson's, though), Betances has a 1.61 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 78 strikeouts in just 50.1 innings. Happy for this kid, I'll be he'll get the nod for the game a few more times before his career ends.

As for any possible snubs, I think that you could really make a case for David Robertson to be an All-Star. In his first year as the Yankees' closer, he's recorded 21 saves -- three in this four-game series against the Twins -- with a 2.93 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. There will probably be a couple of pitchers drop out of the game because of injuries or pitching the Sunday before (like Tanaka), so maybe there is a chance he'll still get in.

I also thought that Brett Gardner had a good case, but probably not good enough to get him in.

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Starting AL lineup: Miguel Cabrera (1B), Robinson Cano (2B), Derek Jeter (SS), Josh Donaldson (3B), Jose Bautista (OF, MLB's leading vote-getter at almost 6 million votes), Mike Trout (OF), Adam Jones (OF), and Nelson Cruz (DH).

Reserves: Derek Norris, Kurt Suzuki, Edwin Encarnacion, Brandon Moss, Jose Altuve, Adrian Beltre, Alexei Ramirez, Jose Abreu, Michael Brantley, Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon, Victor Martinez.

Pitchers: Yu Darvish, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Masahiro Tanaka, Jon Lester, David Price, Scott Kazmir, Mark Buehrle, Sean Doolittle, Greg Holland, Glen Perkins and Dellin Betances.

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Starting NL lineup: Yadier Molina (C), Paul Goldschmidt (1B), Chase Utley (2B), Troy Tulowitzski (SS), Aramis Ramirez (3B), Andrew McCutchen (OF), Carlos Gomez (OF), and Yasiel Puig (OF).

Reserves: Jonathan Lucroy, Devin Mesoraco, Freddie Freeman, Dee Gordon, Daniel Murphy, Matt Carpenter, Todd Frazier, Starlin Castro, Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Harrison, Hunter Pence, Charlie Blackmon.

Pitchers: Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner, Adam Wainwright, Tyson Ross, Jordan Zimmermann, Julio Teheran, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Francisco Rodriguez, Tony Watson, and Pat Neshek.

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Yankees and Rays play to a 10-inning tie in Tampa

David Phelps pitched five shutout innings, giving up just three hits, and Dellin Betances continued his great spring by tossing a scoreless 6th inning, but in the end, the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays played to a 10 inning tie on a sunny afternoon at The Boss in Tampa.

Down by a run entering the inning, Jose Gil and Adonis Garcia put together back-to-back two-out singles to put runners on the corners, and then Braulio Lara threw a wild pitch that brought home pinch-runner Antoan Richardson to tie the game.

After Scott Sizemore drew a walk, Adonis Garcia had a chance to win the game, but he grounded out on a terrible 2-0 pitch from Lara, sending the game into extra-innings, where the ballgame would end in a 3-3 tie.

Phelps continued his charge to be the Yankees' fifth starter with a great outing against the Rays. This was probably his best start of the spring, as he was able to work his way through five shutout innings, giving up just three hits, while striking out one, and he didn't issue any walks.

After giving up a double to Matt Joyce with one out in the first inning, Phelps went on a streak of setting down nine in-a-row before a Wil Myers single in the 4th.

I still believe that Phelps will start this season in the bullpen with Michael Pineda winning the fifth starter job as long as he continues to pitch the way he did in his debut Friday night.

Betances followed Phelps out of the bullpen, and was impressive once again. He gave up a one-out double to Desmond Jennings and left him stranded at third after striking out Joyce on a nasty slider, one of the breaking pitches that Betances has been using well this spring, and getting Myers to groundout the end the inning.

Betances hasn't given up a run in 6.1 innings this spring, and at this pace, I see no reason why Joe Girardi won't include him in his Opening Day bullpen.

After Bruce Billings took over on the mound to start the 7th inning, James Loney ripped a double the other way down the left field line, then scored a batter later when Sean Rodriguez dropped down a bunt that Billings threw away.

Rodriguez stole second base and eventually moved to third on a passed ball, and then Ryan Hanigan singled home to put double the Rays lead, making it 2-0.

The Yankees were able to cut Tampa's lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the inning on a sac-fly by Brian Roberts.

The Rays put that run back on the board in the next inning on a Mikie Mahtook single against Danny Burawa, who has looked good this spring. The Yankees tried again to come back in the 8th, cutting to lead to one when Jose Pirela scored from third on a stolen base by Adonis Garcia.

Derek Jeter played six innings at shortstop and went 0-for-3 at the plate. However, Jeter had a handful of plays in the field and looked to be moving very well on every play. The way he's been moving around and running the bases in games has been a great sign early.

Alfonso Soriano played in his third spring training game and went 2-for-3 with one of those hits being an infield single. There has been some talk about the Yankees using Soriano at first base, btu he was only in left field for today's game.

The Yankees will have a complete off-day tomorrow -- seriously, nothing will be happening in camp. But they'll be back out on the field Tuesday when they travel to play the Washington Nationals at 1:05 pm ET.

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Dellin Betances off to an impressive start this spring

I'm sure you've all heard by now that the Yankees are going to need a few more arms in their bullpen, and free-agent signings are very unlikely at this point. Any of the remaining bullpen jobs are almost certainly going to be filled by relievers already in camp.

And though it's really hard to tell much from the first week of spring training games because most relievers have appeared a two or three games, man, Dellin Betances has really been impressive so far.

In three appearances this spring, Betances has been lights out, as he's only given up one hit and hasn't allowed a single run in 5.1 innings.

Compared to where he was a year ago, Betances has done a great job of improving on his command, specifically his offspeed pitches, which Tampa Bay Rays announces noted during his last appearance in Wednesday.

The command was a major issue for Betances, which is most of the reason why the Yankees moved him from being a starter into the bullpen, where they felt he would be much more successful.

Entering Friday, David Robertson, Shawn Kelley and Matt Thornton are the pitchers with guaranteed spots in the bullpen this season. Joe Girardi mentioned during the offseason that Preston Claiborne was also a lock, but I'm not sure I can count him after he finished last year with an ERA of 6.53 in the second half of the season.

Obviously Robertson is going to be the closer, Thornton will be the lefty specialist, and Kelley will most likely get the promotion to set-up man.

Betances is one of the pitchers in contention to earn a spot this spring, could end up being a very important piece for Girardi out of the bullpen year as a late-inning reliever.

"I feel like there's a lot of opportunities this year. It's going to be a fun competition," Betances told MLB.com back in February. "I know a lot of guys are eager to get across the street [for Spring Training]. I'm excited for this year. I know I feel good about myself after last year, and I'll be ready to compete for one of those spots."

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog

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Spring Training position battles: The bullpen

This is when life after Mariano Rivera really ends. The closer role is expected to be filled by David Robertson, but everything is up for grabs in the Yankees' bullpen as spring training begins.

There will be more than enough relievers in camp for the Yankees this spring, but being able to find the right guys will be no easy challenge. As of right now, only Robertson, Shawn Kelley, Matt Thornton, and likely Preston Claiborne have secured jobs in the bullpen for this season.

Like I said before, Robertson is almost certainly going to be the closer. At least that's what comments from Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi have suggested.

Kelley is the front-running, for the time being, to be Robertson's 8th inning setup man. He proved to be a valuable arm for the Yankees last season after finally working his way back from two Tommy John surgeries. If he can handle the 8th like he handled the 6th and 7th innings last season, then he won't have any problem being the setup man.

Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances have a chance to play important roles in the Bronx this summer.

If Betances is able to control his pitches, and be the pitcher that he was projected to be, the Yankees can finally get everything out of him that they have been hoping for. And who know's, he might be abel to work himself into the setup man role by the end of the season.

As for Banuelos, though he projects to be a middle-of-the-rotation start in the majors some day, there is actually a chance that he can make the Yankees' Opening Day roster as the second lefty out of the bullpen. If the Yankees really like what they see from him, and his arm returns to normal after the Tommy John, they could say "what the hell, let's him him to Houston with us."

I'm not really a fan of this plan, in particaular. I would prefer that they start him in Triple-A and let him work his way back as the starter he could be one day. If he doesn't work out as a starter again, then you can make the decision to move him to the bullpen, just as they did with Betances.

Jose Campos and Cesar Cabral are two more young guys that can play important roles in the big league bullpen this year.

I would think that the runner-up for the fifth rotation spot will be moved into the bullpen as the long-reliever. Or the Yankees could just pencil in Adam Warren for this job because he pitched pretty well in long-relief last season. Maybe even Vidal Nuno, too, if the Yankees liked him as much as I did when be debuted last year.

Matt Daley, Chris Leroux and Mark Montgomery are three non-roster players that could have a chance to make the 25-man roster. Montgomery came close to winning a bullpen job last spring, but an injury killed that chance.

Because there are s many spot open for the taking, the bullpen competition will be one of the more interesting to watch this spring.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (HERE).

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Yankees Make September Call-Ups

For starters, Happy September! Second, as many of you already know, September 1st mean that all Major League roster can expand from the normal 25-man, to fully equiped 40-man rosters.

As the final month of the season, the expanded rosters can really come in handy to teams wanting to add depth as the playoff run winds down. And for teams not in playoff contention, it's a great opportunity to teams to get a look at some of their young prospects.

With the countless amount of injuries that the New York Yankees have suffered this season, some of their possible call-ups are already here, but the chance to add more depth on the bench and in the bullpen is something that Yankees manager Joe Girardi can't afford to pass up.

Here is the current list of people with the Yankees to begin the day (Note: This will be updated as more call-ups are made):

* IF David Adams

* RHP Brett Marshall

* RHP Dellin Betances

* LHP Cesar Cabral

* C JR Murphy

For now, these are the only five Yankees that have gotten the call into action for the Bombers. But it's still likely we'll see quite a few more faces as the weeks go by. Remember, David Phelps and Michael Pineda are currently dealing with injuries, and if they manage to get healthy soon, we'll certainly see them back in pinstripes.

Other Call-Up Notes:

* Preston Claiborne will also be rejoining the Yankees, but he can't do so until after the Single-A Tampa Yankees finish up their Florida State League season today, so he'll likely be with the Yankees tomorrow.

* Melky Mesa is another player that was expected to be called up by the Yankees, but he's currently dealing with hamstring issues, thus the Yanks were forced to designate him for assignment in order to make room on the 40-man roster.

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Huff Called Up, Betances Optioned To Triple-A

As I originally reported to news last night, it has been official this morning, as the Yankees have called up LHP David Huff from Triple-A Scranton and have optioned RHP Dellin Betances to Triple-A, while also moving RHP David Phelps to the 60-day DL.

It's not clear what role Huff will pitch in for the Yankees, as he just started for Scranton three days ago, but he's expected to be another left-handed option out of the bullpen.

It's also possible that he could make a spot start for the Yankees in their double header against the Blue Jays this coming Tuesday.

Betances made his 2013 season debut Tuesday night in the 8th inning against the Angels, striking out the first two batters he faced before falling apart, giving up four runs on five hits and walk in the 9th inning.

Huff was claimed off waivers by the Yankees back in May and made one appearance for the team, giving up one run on one hit against the Rays, before getting sent down.

In 22 game for Triple-A Scranton, Huff has an ERA of 3.90 in 91.2 innings pitched, with 22 walks and 92 strikeouts.

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Reports: David Huff Being Called-Up

Following Wednesday night's 11-3 win, the Yankees appear to be making a roster move. According to Donnie Collins of the Scranton Times-Tribune, LHP David Huff is on his way up to the Bronx.

I'm not sure what this move would mean, considering that Huff is currently not on the Yankees 40-man roster and the Yanks would need to clear room to do so, assuming there isn't an injury for him to replace, someone is expected to be designated for assignment.

If there isn't an injury and somebody is about to be designated for assignment, I would have to guess that Dellin Betances, who gave up four runs on five hits on his 2013 debut Tuesday night, would be the man getting the boot.

Of all the people the Yankees could bring up, I'm not sure why Huff is the man. Huff was claimed off waivers by the Yankees back in May and made one appearance for the team, giving up one run on one hit against the Rays, before getting sent down.

In 22 game for Triple-A Scranton, Huff has an ERA of 3.90 in 91.2 innings pitched, with 22 walks and 92 strikeouts.

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