Yankees 8, Tigers 4: Shane Greene dominates after Yankees chase David Price early

Baseball is a very weird game sometimes, you guys.

Facing former Cy Young winner David Price one night after getting just two runs over eight innings against Rick Porcello, the Yankees knocked Price out of the game with nobody out in the 3rd inning after collecting nine straight hits, as they would go on to beat the Tigers, 8-4, on Wednesday night in Detroit.

Price gave up three singles in the first two innings, but the Yankees weren't able to put any runs on the board. At least until the 3rd inning came around, when the Yankees collected nine straight base hits to open the inning.

Jacoby Ellsbury singled to lead off then stole second base before Derek Jeter doubled down the right field lineup, putting the Yankees up 1-0. Martin Prado singled, Mark Teixeira doubled home Jeter, moving Prado to third. Carlos Beltran singled home Prado, then Brian McCann singled home Teixeira. Chase Headley singled to load the bases, then Brett Gardner reached on an infield single to score Beltran, then Francisco Cervelli drove in McCann on a single to left field, making a 6-0 game.

Price left with nobody out and the bases loaded in the 3rd inning. None of the secondary pitches were working for him, and the Yankees were taking full advantage of it. He gave up eight runs on 12 hits in two-plus innings.

Detroit was forced to go to it's bullpen far earlier than expected, but the Yankees still added to the score, scoring two more runs on back-to-back sac-fly's by Ellsbury and Jeter, extending the lead to 8-0.

That gave Yankees starter Shane Greene more than enough room to work with, as if he really even needed it.

Greene didn't give up a hit until Torii Hunter singled to open the 4th inning. Miguel Cabrera doubled a batter later to drive him home, putting the Tigers on the board to close to gap -- just a little bit -- to 8-1. A couple innings later, Victor Martinez, crushed his 26th homerun of the year to make it an 8-2 game.

That was all the Tigers were able to get against Greene, who was dealing. The young right-hander went seven strong innings, giving up just the two runs on five hits, striking out eight and walking just one on 101 pitches.

Adam Warren gave up a run in the 8th inning after issuing a one-out walk to Martinez, then giving up an RBI triple to Nick Castellanos. Dellin Betances finished off the 9th inning, giving up a run on a couple of two-out hits, to close out the Yankees' sixth win in their last seven games.

The Yankees and Tigers will finish up this three-game series on Thursday afternoon at 1:08 p.m. ET. Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for the Bombers, facing off with Kyle Lobstein.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 131: Brett Gardner returns

The Yankees and Tigers continue their three-game series tonight at Comerica Park. Detroit took the opener last night on the strength of eight innings of two-run ball from starter Rick Porcello, who was giving the Yankees fits all night.

The only high note in the game for New York was the two solo homeruns hit by Jacoby Ellsbury, who has hit three dingers in his last two games.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
SS Derek Jeter
2B Martin Prado
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Carlos Beltran
DH Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
LF Brett Gardner
C Francisco Cervelli

Pitching matchup:

Shane Greene gets the ball for the Bombers tonight, as the Tigers will trot out David Price to face the Yankees for the since time since being traded to Detroit on July 31.

Read More

Game 125: Shane Greene gets the start against the White Sox

Coming off of their shutout win over the Astros yesterday that helped them salvage a game after dropping the first two to Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Yankees welcome the Chicago White Sox to town for a three-game series that kicks-off tonight at Yankee Stadium.

The White Sox comes in with the fifth worst record in baseball, having lost 12 of their last 17 games, including being swept in three-games by the Baltimore Orioles this week.

Tonight's lineup against Chicago:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Martin Prado
DH Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Zelous Wheeler

SP Shane Greene

Read More

Game 120: Yankees looking to snap skid

New York dropped the opener of the three-game weekend series, last night 5-0.

Rays starter Alex Cobb threw 7 1-3 shutout innings for the win over Brandon McCarthy. The Yankees were able to manage seven hits, but were predictably 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The Yankees sit eight games behind Baltimore in the AL East and 4 1/2 games back of Seattle for the second Wild Card position. At 61-59, New York needs some sort of spark it if wants to get Derek Jeter to the playoffs in his final season, but that seems unlikely at this point.

 Things have gotten so bleak for the Yankees, as the Rays, who were once 18 games under .500, now sit just one game back of New York with a 61-61 mark.

Today's lineup against Tampa Bay:

LF Brett Gardner
DH Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Carlos Beltran
3B Chase Headley
2B Martin Prado
C Francisco Cervelli
SS Brendan Ryan

Pitching Matchup Preview:

The Yankees send boy wonder Shane Greene to the hill to go against Tampa Bay's Drew Smyly. Greene has been of the biggest surprises in the American League this season. The 25-year-old has a 3-1 record this season to go with a 2.89 ERA.

He's allowed 32 hits, 12 earned runs in 37 2-3 innings, while walking 13 and striking out 29 with a 1.21 WHIP.

In his last outing, Greene threw eight shutout innings to earn the victory against the Detroit Tigers. Smyly enters with a 7-10 record and a 3.73 ERA. He blanked Texas over 7 2-3 innings on Monday in his second start since being dealt as part of the David Price trade. Smyly has allowed 121 hits in 118 1-3 to go along with 36 walks, 104 strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP.

Read More

Game 114: The big and mean Greene Machine

The Yankees and Tiger conclude their four-game series in the Bronx this afternoon with a matinee matchup at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have won two of the first three games of the series so far, winning Wednesday night's game 5-1 -- the first game decided by more than two runs that the Yankees have played in since July 19.

The Yankees have won four of their last five games, playing better baseball lately, and it's mostly because of their strong pitching staff, which has been performing very well since the All-Star break, even with the ridiculous amount of injuries.

Today's lineup against Detroit:

LF Brett Gardner
3B Martin Prado
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Chase Headley
SS Stephen Drew
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

With an actual defense behind him today, Shane Greene takes the mound for the Yankees this afternoon, making his sixth start of the season in the big leagues.

Greene is coming off of a sub-par start against the Boston Red Sox last weekend, giving up three early runs before battling back to get through 4 2/3 inning, taking home a no-decision.

Rick Porcello gets the ball for Detroit in today's series finale, becoming the first non-Cy Young winner to face the Yankees this week, following up Max Scherzer, David Price, and Justin Verlander.

Porcello, though, has pitched like a Cy Young winner for the Tigers lately, going 5-1 with a sub-2.00 ERA over his last seven starts. However, he comes into today's game 0-1 with an ERA of 8.10 in two career starts at Yankee Stadium.

Follow @GavinEwbank Tweet

Read More

Yankees 6, Red Sox 4: Yanks come from behind to beat Boston

Kevin Long told the NY Daily News after Friday night's 4-3 loss that he doesn't think this Yankees offense is capable of putting up five or six runs in a game. The Yankees' offense responded by putting up six runs on Saturday night, as the Bombers took the second game of this three game series with a 6-4 win over the Red Sox.

Boston took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning against Yankees starter Shane Greene, who struggled in the 2nd after striking out two in a three up, three down 1st inning.

Yoenis Cespedes, who fell behind 0-2 in his first at-bat with the Red Sox, singled to open the inning, then Mike Napoli followed up with a two-run shot that cleared The Monster, putting the Sox up 2-0. Greene then walked Daniel Nava before retiring the next two batters, in which Nava moved to second base on a groundout by Jackie Bradley Jr. Rookie catcher Chris Vazquez followed Bradley Jr. with a two-out single into center that made it a 3-0 ballgame.

Those were the only three runs that Greene gave up, as he was able to settle in after throwing a ton of pitches through the first couple of innings. He retired seven of eight after the 2nd inning, including striking out the side in the 4th. He gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz before setting down Cespedes as the final batter he would face in the game. He left with two outs in the 5th, having given up three runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out five on 95 pitches -- just 52 of them strikes.

The Yankees battled back to take a one-run by putting up four runs in the 3rd inning, thanks to some help from Red Sox starter Allen Webster, who walked three straight -- Martin Prado, Francisco Cervelli, Brett Gardner -- batters to load the bases to open the inning. With the bases juiced, Derek Jeter blooped a single into shallow right field to score a pair of runs, then Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to second base a batter later, scoring Gardner from third base to tie the game at 2-2, also moving Jeter to third. After a Mark Teixeira ground out, Carlos Beltran collected his third RBI in this series with a single into left, bringing in Jeter to put the Yanks up 4-3.

Webster followed up the Beltran single by walking the next two batters, and that's when John Farrell finally had enough, going to his bullpen after just 2 2/3 inning. Webster was charged with four runs on just two hits. as he walked a total of six batters, throwing just 39 (!) of 71 pitches for strikes.

Two innings later, in the 5th, Teixeira tacked on another Yankees run with a solo homerun over the The Monster, extending New York's lead to 5-3 with his 19th dinger of the season -- 11th in his career against the Red Sox in Boston. Stephen Drew added one more run against his former team in the 7th with an RBI to deep center, bringing in Beltran, who doubled to open the inning. Beltran, by the way, has 15 hits in his last nine games after today; he's starting to get hot.

Shawn Kelley got the final out of the 5th inning, then pitched a scoreless 6th, striking out three in 1 1/3 innings. Adam Warren opened on the mound in the 7th. He retired the first batter, Vazquez, then walked Brock Hold and gave up a single to Pedroia, forcing Joe Girardi to bring in Dellin Betances, who gave up a sac-fly to Ortiz, scoring Holt from third base -- the run was charged to Warren.

Betances finished off the 7th inning, then worked a three up, three down 8th inning, apparently hitting 100 mph on the radar gun a couple of times.

Then in the 9th inning, David Roberts set down the first two batters he faced before giving up a two-out single to Holt, who eventually moved to second base on fielder's indifference. With Pedroia, the tying run, at the plate, he got the small second baseman to ground out to Chase Headley, who made a nice back-hand play to his right, followed up by a very nice pick play at first base to Teixeira to end the game, sealing Robertson's 28th save of the season.

The Yankees and Red Sox will finish up this weekend series on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball at 8:05 p.m. ET -- but we can't go one series between these two without a day game on Sunday. Clay Buchholtz and David Phelps will be the starting pitchers.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 109: Just start hitting

The Yankees and Red Sox will continue their three game series at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon. Boston took the opener last night with a 4-3 victory over the lifeless Yankees lineup, and they'll be looking to take the series today with a second consecutive victory over their longtime rivals.

Yoenis Cespedes will make his Red Sox debut today while facing this afternoon. Cespedes, who was acquired by the Sox hours before baseball's trading deadline in his career is .313 hitter with 6 HRs and 12 RBIs in 17 against the Yankees, so you know Boston has to be happy about that.

Shane Greene (2-1, 3.28 ERA) and Allen Webster (1-0, 3.38 ERA) will be the starting pitchers today. Greene took a no-decision against the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start on Sunday, yielding three runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. Webster, meanwhile, made his first start the season on Sunday against the Rays, and he allowed two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings for the win.

Today's lineup against Boston:

Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Carlos Beltran DH
Chase Headley 3B
Stephen Drew 2B
Martin Prado RF
Francisco Cervelli C

Read More

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 5: Yanks end homestand with loss to Toronto

Coming off of a tough loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, in which the Jays ended a 17-game losing streak in the Bronx, the Yankees sent rookie right-hander Shane Greene to the mound in the final game of a 10-game homestand.

The Yankees fell behind early, tied it up, fell behind again, tied it up again, then fell behind again, as they couldn't come back one more time, falling to the Blue Jays, 5-4, on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Toronto never scored more than one run in an inning, and wasted no time getting on the board in the 1st. Jose Reyes reached on an infield single to open the game, then Melky Cabrera doubled off of Greene to put runners on first and second base for Jose Bautista, who grounded out to the first baseman, Brian McCann, to give the Jays a 1-0 lead.

Greene was a little more calm on the mound after the first inning, and didn't concede another run until Juan Francisco blasted a solo homerun in the 5th inning, extending the Jays' lead to 2-0.

The Yankees finally got to Blue Jays starter JA Happ in the bottom half of the 5th, using back-to-back one-out homeruns from Chase Headley -- his first since joining the Bombers -- and Francisco Cervelli to tie the game at 2-2.

The Blue Jays added one more run against Greene in the 6th on an RBI double by Colby Rasmus, bringing in Dan Johnson, who singled to left a batter earlier, putting the Jays back up by a run. Rasmus was the final hitter that Greene would face, as Joe Girardi brought in David Huff to get out of the 6th, which he did by retiring the next two hitters. Greene was charged with three runs on eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

After falling behind in the top half of the inning, the Yankees answered back with a run to tie the game again in the bottom of the 6th. Derek Jeter collected a one-out single ahead of Jacoby Ellsbury, who walked to force Happ out of the game. Brett Cecil came on for the Jays to face Carlos Beltran, who grounded into a fielder's choice at third base for the second out of the inning. A batter later, McCann hit a groundball over to second base, but the low throw to first got away from the first baseman, letting Ellsbury to score with everybody safe.

After Dellin Betances worked out of a bases loaded jam unharmed in the 7th inning, he walked Rasmus to open the 8th inning. Rasmus moved over to third base when Betances' attempted pickoff throw went wild, running down the first base side. And sure enough, Munenori Kawasaki hit a sac-fly to left to score Rasmus, putting the Jays up 4-3.

Beltran, for the time being, saved the day to put even the score once more on a two-out RBI single into center field, scoring Brett Gardner, who singled to open the inning before moving over to second on a sac-bunt by Jeter.

However, David Robertson, who hadn't given up a run since his ugly blown save against the Minnesota Twins on June 1, let in the go-ahead run for the Jays in the 9th. Bautista grounded into a fielder's choice, stole second base, then scored on an RBI double by Dioner Navarro.

After a 7-1 start to the homestand, losing the last two games to the Blue Jays makes things seem a lot worse than they really were. The Yankees will now hit the road for a week, and begin a three-game series in Texas tomorrow with David Phelps and Yu Darvish on the mound for their respective teams.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 104: Starting a new streak

The Toronto Blue Jays finally ended their miserable run at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, defeating the Yankees in the Bronx for the first time since August, 2012, ending the Yankees' 17-game home winning streak over the Jays.

So now the Yankees -- 7-2 since the All-Star break -- will be looking to start a new streak against the Jays, who now have some more confidence that they can, in fact, beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

This is the final game of the 10-game homestand to open up the second half of the season. After today, the Yankees will hit the road and make a stop on Texas on Monday to meet the Rangers for three games down in Arlington, then head back north for a three-game set at Fenway Park.

Today's lineup against Toronto:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
C Francisco Cervelli
RF Zelous Wheeler
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Shane Greene gets the ball for the Yankees today in the finale of this three-game series. Greene enters the day 2-1 with 2.79 ERA through his first three big league starts.

The worst of those three outings was the most recent one, this past week against the Rangers. Greene exited with two outs in the 6th, and finished by giving up four runs on five hits in what would be his first loss of the season that day.

Greene, the rookie, will be going up against the veteran left-hander JA Happ, who's coming off one of his best outings of the year after throwing six scoreless innings in victory against the Red Sox.

"That might have been, in my opinion, his best outing of the year," said Blue jays manager John Gibbons told reporters. "He had a good curveball going that he established, he used quite a bit. He primarily relies on his fastball, because he has a good one, but he had a good curveball that he was throwing over the plate and a good changeup. That was big, that was a big part of the reason he held them in check."

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees had four scouts on hand to watch Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo workout at the University of Miami on Saturday, according to the NY Post.

With almost the entire league there to watch him, some believe that the outfielder could land a contract in the range of what Yasiel Puig got from the Los Angeles Dodgers a couple years ago -- Puig signed for $42 million.

The 27-year-old is a very strong, fast player that could easily help the Yankees now and in the future, possibly filling up right field next to Ellsbury and Gardner. His power, along side the speed of Ellsbury and Gardner, that could be one of the most dangerous outfields in all of the Majors.

* It doesn't sound like Mark Teixeira will need to go on the DL. Joe Girardi told reporters that they're shooting for a Tuesday/Wednesday return for the switch-hitting first baseman.

* Carlos Beltran hasn't been missing any time lately, expect for the fact that he hasn't played in the outfield since May. Girardi also believes that Carlos Beltran isn't too far off from returning to the outfield, suggesting that he could be just a few weeks away.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Yankees 2, Rangers 4: Five hits not enough to overcome five errors

Just another one of those games where the Yankees make a starter that you have never heard of coming into the game look like an All-Star. This time it was Miles Mikolas, who was making just his fourth start of the season. The right hander had no problem tossing 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, as the Texas Rangers beat the Yankees, 4-2, in the opener of a four game series this week at Yankee Stadium.

It wasn't just the offense, as the Yankees committed five errors in a game for the first time since July 7, 2007, three of which were by starter Shane Greene, who suffered his first loss since joining the Yankees' rotation. The five errors were also the same amount of hits that the Yankees managed to collect.

The Yankees jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning. Derek Jeter worked a one-out walk against Mikolas, moved to second base on a balk, then reached third base on an infield single by the speedy Jacoby Ellsbury. Carlos Beltran followed up Ellsbury with a sac-fly to center, scoring Jeter for the game's first run.

Texas evened the score in the 3rd inning on a fielder's choice off the bat of Adrian Beltre. Shin-Soo Choo hit a out-out double to right field off of Greene, then moved to third base on an infield single by Elvus Andrus. A batter later, Beltre hit a ball to Derek Jeter, who tossed ball over to second to start the double play, but the throw was dropped by Brian Roberts at the bag; everybody was safe and the run scored.

An inning later, in the 4th, Ellsbury lead off the inning by hitting his 8th homerun of the season, a solo shot to right field to put the Yankees back up by a score of 2-1 -- just his 4th at Yankee Stadium this year.

Greene was chased from the game during the Rangers' three-run 6th inning, in which Greene retired the first two hitters before giving up a single to Jake Smolinski, walking Jim Adduci, and giving up an game-tying single to Geovany Soto, who drove in Smolinski to tie game.

That was the end of Greene's night. He made a pair of errors in the 2nd inning, but somehow managed to get out unharmed. His first two big league starts were very good, this one wasn't terrible, but it obviously could have been better. He only gave up five hits and four runs, while walking just one batter and striking out five.

Matt Thornton took over on the mound with a pair of left-handed hitters coming up to face him. To no surprise, his outing was not a success. Both hitters, Rounged Odor and Choo, smacked back-to-back RBI singles to put the Rangers up 4-2, knocking Thornton out of the game. Adam Warren came on to record the final out of the 6th, then worked a scoreless 7th inning.

David Huff pitched the final two innings for the Yankees, giving up a pair of hits with a walk. He also struck out three, helping keep the Yankees in the game for a chance to tie or take the lead in the final innings.

Mikolas was a rock on the mound for the Rangers, working to two outs in the 8th inning. He only gave up two runs on four hits, with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. He came into the game with an ERA over 10, and the Yankees did what they do best in making him look really good.

The Yankees tired to make things interesting in the bottom of the 9th. Kelly Johnson ripped a one-out single into right-center field, then after Roberts wasted no time popping out to Beltre on the first pitch he saw against Joakim Soria, Brian McCann, who pinch-hit for Ichiro Suzuki, was hit by a pitch to put the tying run on with two outs. Yangervis Solarte hit for Francisco Cervelli, but flew out to left field to end the game.

The Yankees and Rangers will continue this four game series on Tuesday night when Chase Whitley and Nick Martinez take the mound for their teams. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm ET.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 98: Welcoming the Rangers to town

Three games, three wins in the books for the Yankees to open up the second half of the season. After all they have been through this season, the Yanks are amazingly just three games back of the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles, who just lost two of their three games in Oakland over the weekend.

The second half of the Yankees' season could not have gotten off to a much better start, with all three starters so far having delivered quality starts of at least six innings. And even better, Jacoby Ellsbury (6-for-12), Carlos Beltran (4-for-11) and Brian McCann (4-for-13) all had a good weekend against Cincinnati, sparking hope that is life after all in the lineup that produced very little during the first half.

The Yankees will now hope to continue this hot start to the second half against the Texas Rangers, who dropped two of three to the Blue Jays in Toronto over the weekend, and lost eight straight and 22 of 25 heading into the All-Star break.

Tonight's lineup against Texas:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Kelly Johnson
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
3B Zelous Wheeler

* Mark Teixeira will be out of the lineup for the next 3-4 days with a mild lower lat strain, Joe Girardi told reporters. As of now, Teixeira will not be headed to the disabled list. He went 0-for-12 over the weekend against the Reds.

Pitching matchup preview:

Shane Greene will look to continue his perfect run in the Yankees' rotation tonight when he takes the mound against an injury-riddled Rangers lineup. Greene, who has combined to allow just two runs over 13 1/3 innings while carrying a no-hitter through 4 2/3 innings in each of his first two starts, enters the game 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA.

In his last start, against the Baltimore Orioles on the Saturday before the All-Star break, Greene tossed 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball, while striking out nine.

Greene and the Yankees will be going up against Rangers right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-2, 10.05 ERA), who will make his fourth start of the season on Monday night. Mikolas gave up five runs (four earned) in 5 2/3 innings against the Angels.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Yankees 3, Orioles 0: Shane Greene dominated the Orioles

Shane Greene made his first big league start on Monday against the Cleveland Indians, where he took a no-hitter into the 5th inning. He made his second big league start on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles, where he also took a no-hitter into the 5th inning. The Yankees' offense, once again, was pretty quite, but scored enough runs to back up Greene, who tossed another great game en route to the second win of his major league career.

After the Yankees stranded runners on first and second base with nobody out to open the 2nd inning, Mark Teixeira put the Bombers on the board in the 3rd inning with an RBI double into the right field corner, scoring Brett Gardner, who reached on a fielder's choice, from second base, with Derek Jeter being gunned down at the plate to end the inning.

That was the only run that Chris Tillman had given up through the first six innings. The Yankees also wasted a good scoring chance in the 6th when Brian Roberts struck out with runners on the corners to end the inning.

Tillman ran into trouble in the 7th, however, and that's when the Yankees where able to pad their lead with a pair of runs.

Kelly Johnson singled to open the inning, moved to second base on a wild pitch from Tillman, then scored on a two-out single by Jeter, who collected a pair of hits for the 1,001st multi-hit game of his career. That knocked Tillman out of the game after 6 2/3 innings; TJ McFarland came on an immediately gave up an RBI double to Jacoby Ellsbury, making it a 3-0 game. Tillman was charged with all three runs on seven hits and three walks, with four strikeouts.

And now to Greene, who was very good in just his second start. He cam out early attacking hitters and throwing strikes to a pretty impatient Orioles lineup. He was really having success with his hard-sinking sinker and a pretty good breaking ball. Like I said, he didn't give up a hit until there were two outs in the 5th, and that hit came from a good piece of hitting by Ryan Flarerty, who reached out to hit a two-strike sinker off the plate, smacking it right back up the middle.

Greene did a great job of working out of trouble in the 6th inning, where he gave up back-to-back singles to Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce to open the inning. The next batter, Adam Jones, though, grounded into a double play, then Nelson Cruz struck out to end the threat.

Greene took the mound to open the 8th inning, retired Steve Clevenger, then Joe Girardi decided to pull the plug on his great day. He struck out nine, giving up just four hits with two walks on 106 pitches in 7 1/3 innings. He and Hiroki Kuroda in back-to-back games has made it look like there's actually some hope for this rotation after all.

David Huff only faced one batter in the 8th -- it was Markakis and he singled -- before Girardi brought in Shawn Kelley, who retired the next two hitters to end the 8th.

Then in the 9th, David Robertson did David Robertson things, striking out the final two batters of the game to seal hsi 23rd save of the season, and a 3-0 win for the Yankees, which brings them back to four games within of the first place Orioles.

The Yankees will finish up the first half of their season tomorrow night on ESPN'S Sunday Night Baseball. Kevin Gausman will be on the mound for the O's, while the Yankees are expected to counter with Chase Whitley.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 93: Jeff Francis activated; Matt Daley optioned to Triple-A

After the Baltimore Orioles took home the victory on Friday night with a walk-off win in 10 inning against the Yankees, these two teams will be back at it again on Saturday afternoon at Camden Yards for the second game of this three-game set.

Brian Roberts made his return to Baltimore last night for the first time as a member of the Yankees after spending the last 13 seasons as an Oriole. Roberts homered on the first pitch he saw, sending a solo homerun over the right field wall.

According to the Yankees' game notes, in Camden Yards' 23-year history (1992-2014), Roberts ranks first in doubles (155), second in hits (703; Markakis-728), runs scored (382; Anderson-440), triples (13; Anderson-15) and walks (286; Anderson-398), and third in games played (660; Anderson-703, Ripken-674).

Today's lineup against Baltimore:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Brian McCann
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
3B Kelly Johnson
C Francisco Cervelli

* The Yankees have added left-handed pitcher Jeff Francis to the active 25-man roster. Francis was acquired by the Yanks on Friday from the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named later. Manager Joe Girardi told reporters on Friday that he'll be a 30-40 pitch guy for the time being. In a corresponding move, Matt Daley was optioned back to Triple-A Scranton after being called up on Friday.

Pitching match up preview:

Shane Greene made his first big league start on Monday against the Cleveland Indians, and things went pretty well, as the young right-hander tossed six-innings of two-run ball, getting him his first big league victory.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Greene became the first pitcher in Yankees franchise history to
earn a win in his first Major League start while recording at least 6.0IP and allowing four-or-fewer hits
without walking a batter -- the last Yankee to do that was Darrel Rasner way back in 2006.

That outing earned Greene another, which will come this afternoon against the O's in the second game of this three-game series.

Heading into Friday, Ubaldo Jimenez was scheduled to start today's game for the Orioles, but an ankle injury landed him on the disabled list before last night's game, meaning that Chris Tillman will now get the ball today to oppose Greene and the Bombers.

Tillman has quality starts in four of his last five games and he pitched well in Washington against the Nationals on Tuesday, allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

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

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More

Game 88: Shane Greene's big break

Fresh off of a series win against the Minnesota Twins this past weekend at Target Field, taking three of four games, the Yankees will make a stop in Cleveland for a four-game series against the Indians, starting tonight at Progressive Field, before heading into the All-Star break with a series in Baltimore.

The Yankees are 3-3 so far in July, and with the offense scoring 22 runs in their three wins over the weekend, this would seem like a good time to claim another series win as they're going up against the third place Indians this weekend.

Cleveland just took two of three games from the Kansas City Royals over the weekend; they've won four of their last five games overall, rebounding from having lost eight straight before that.

The Yankees' pitching staff isn't in the best shape right now, and the bullpen has been taxed lately. It'll be going up against an Indians lineup that has scored the 9th most runs in the league this season, and 6th overall in the American League.

Tonight's lineup against Cleveland:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Brian McCann
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
3B Kelly Johnson
C Francisco Cervelli

* Carlos Beltran out of Yankees lineup with swelling in right knee. He will be seen by a doctor later today.

Pitching matchup preview:

With Vidal Nuno on his way to Arizona, the Yankees had nobody up to make tonight's start, so they recalled right-hander Shane Greene from Triple-A Scranton to make the first start of his Major League career this evening.

This'll be Greene's third time up with the big league club this season, but it'll only be his second appearance in a game. His only relief outing of the season was against the Boston Red Sox back on April 24 when he allowed three unearned runs in one-third of an inning.

With the rotation on shambles -- the Yankees added Brandon McCarthy on Sunday to help patch things up -- this'll be a good chance for Greene to show the Yankees what he can do, similar to the way Chase Whitley succeeded in his first handful of starts.

The Indians will have their ace heading into the season, Justin Masterson, on the mound tonight to open up this series. Masterson, though, hasn't been great lately, allowing eight earned runs in seven innings over his last two starts.

If there is anything to look forward to tonight if you're an Indians fans, it's that Masterson is 3-1, 3.54 ERA in eight starts at Progressive Field this season.

Follow @GavinEwbank

Read More