Yankees 3, Blue Jays 4: Toronto powers their way past New York with three homeruns

The Yankees got their hits today, but it wasn't enough for them to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, who used three homeruns to power their way past New York, 4-3, in the finale of this three-game series on Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Brett Gardner put the Yankees up 1-0 just two pitches into the game with a solo homerun to right field off of Blue Jays starter JA Happ to lead off the ballgame.

The Yankees doubled their lead in the top of the 4th inning to make it a 2-0 game. Martin Prado singled to open the frame; after a couple of outs, Chase Headley and Francisco Cervelli hit back-to-back singles, the later scoring Prado for the game's second run.

Gardner continued his great day at the plate the very next inning, slapping a triple into the left-center field gap. Jose Reyes' relay throw to third base sailed into the Jays' dugout, giving Gardner homeplate free of charge, extending the Yankees' lead to 3-0.

Gardner would go on to double in his next at-bat, needing just a single to reach the cycle. He wouldn't get it though, grounding out to second base in his final at-bat of the game, in the 9th inning.

Yankees starter Brandon McCarthy was cruising along through the first five innings, giving up just two hits -- he even struck out the side in the 5th. His stuff was looking good and his was putting together another great start, but that was until Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista hit back-to-back solo homeruns to quickly make it a one run game, at 3-2.

Then to open the bottom half of the 7th, Edwin Encarnacion tied the game with a solo blast to left field off of McCarthy, who walked the next batter before Joe Girardi ended his day and brought in Dellin Betances to get out of the inning. Betances got out of the inning, but not before Steve Tolleson, who pinch-ran for Dioner Navarro then stole second base, scored on a single to right field by Munenori Kawasaki, just barley making it into the plate before the tag could be applied by Cervelli.

McCarthy was charged with all four runs on five hits. He walked a pair and stuck out three on 90 pitches in six-plus innings.

After working out of the 7th, Betances came back out for the 8th inning and worked around a two-out single by Adam Lind to toss a scoreless inning. In all, he tossed 29 pitches.

Starting the game on the bench with a slightly injured ankle, Jacoby Ellsbury pinch-hit for Zelous Wheeler with one out in the top of the 9th inning, and doubled into shallow right field to put a runner on second base. Ichiro Suzuki pinch-ran for Ellsbury, and moved to third on the Gardner groundout. And then batting for the final time in Toronto, Derek Jeter lined out to second base to end the game.

After finishing up this seven-game road trip in which they went 3-4, the Yankees head back home to the Bronx, where they will open up a three-game series with the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Shane Greene will face off against Joe Kelley in that Tuesday night matchup at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 134: More than one hit today, please

One step forward, two steps back. That seems to be the way to describe the Yankees' struggling offense this past week. After scoring eight run against the Royals on Monday, they were limited to just two runs the next day in Detroit. They put up eight more runs, all in the 3rd inning against David Price, on Wednesday, then scored just two on Thursday.

And then they came into Toronto, where a five-run 7th inning on Friday night gave them a series opening win over the Blue Jays, only to collect one hit the very next day in a 2-0 loss.

Today, with Jacoby Ellsbury still out due to an ankle sprain, as Joe Girardi called it yesterday, the Yankees will look to take the rubber match of this three-game series in Toronto, as the Bombers wrap up their seven-game road trip this afternoon at 1:07 p.m. ET.

Today's lineup against Toronto:

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

Pitching matchup preview:

The Yankees' ace of the past month and a half, Brandon McCarthy, take gets the ball for Joe Girardi's club this afternoon, as the right-hander is looking to bounce back from his worst start since joining the Bombers, when five runs on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings in a loss to the Tigers.

"I've thrown well enough to get through outings where I haven't been as sharp, and today, that's the disappointment," McCarthy said after the Detroit outing. "I'd like to be able to fight back. You know days like this you're going to give up some runs, especially against a good team like that. You'd like to be able to limit it a little bit more."

McCarthy, who has posted a 1.90 ERA (11 earned runs in 52 innings) since joining the Yankees, is 1-2 with a 4.28 ERA in seven career appearances (four starts) against the Blue Jays.

He'll be going up against Blue Jays left-hander JA Happ, who is still looking for his first win since July 22, when he beat the Boston Red Sox. Happ has not been pitching well lately, having given up 11 runs in his last 15 1/3 innings.

This'll be Happ's second start this season against the Yankees, who hit him for three runs (two earned) on four hits, including a pair of homeruns, in 5 1/3 innings at Yankee Stadium back in July.

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Game 130: Going for six straight

The Yankees continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers that starts tonight at Comerica Park. New York enters on a five-game winning streak, their highest of the season, after taking down one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Kansas City Royals, 8-1 last night, bringing them to within 2.5 games of the second wild card spot.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the Yankees and Tigers. The two teams met about three weeks ago at Yankee Stadium, when the Yankees took three of the four games.

Detroit just split a four game series with the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, and are currently 1.5 games back of the first place Royals in the AL Central.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Derek Jeter
C Brian McCann
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Carlos Beltran
2B Martin Prado
SS Stephen Drew
3B Chase Headley
LF Ichiro Suzuki

Pitching matchup: Brandon McCarthy vs Rick Porcello

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Game 124: Avoiding the sweep

Last night seemed like D-Day for the Yankees, on a count of how many "the Yankees are finished" columns I saw floating around Twitter this morning.

The Bombers dropped the second of three games to the Astros last night, falling 5-2 after another late-inning collapse by the Yankees' bullpen, which has now let them down in back-to-back days.

Just five games back of the Detroit Tigers for the second AL Wild Card, the Yankees might be able to pull something off, but at this point it seems very unlikely from the team that hasn't won five straight games since April.

This was suppose to be a big week in which they took advantage of two bad baseball teams -- the Astros and White Sox -- but now they're trying to salvage a game from the Astros.

Today's lineup against Houston:

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

SP Brandon McCarthy

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Yankees 0, Indians 3: New York strikes out 15 times in loss to Cleveland

Looking for his fifth win since joining New York back in July, Brandon McCarthy took the mound on Saturday afternoon to face the same team that he went up against in his Yankees debut, the Cleveland Indians.

McCarthy was impressive again, but in the end, and early homerun from  turned out to be the difference maker in a 3-0 loss in the second of three games at Yankee Stadium this weekend.

McCarthy worked around a two-out single in the 1st inning, then again retired the first two hitters of the 2nd before Lonnie Chisenhall lined a single to center field. A batter later, Jose Ramirez made it a 2-0 game with a two-run dinger that just barely made it's way over the right field wall for his first career homerun. In any other ballpark, that ball would have stayed in, but not in Yankee Stadium, who left-handed hitter live like kings with the short porch in right field.

That was the only blemish on the lineup of McCarthy, who put together another solid outing, going 6 1/3 inning, giving up just the two runs on seven hits, striking out eight without issuing a single walk on 90 pitches.

McCarthy was good, but Indians starter Corey Kluber was even better. Kluber didn't put a runner on base until hitting Francisco Cervelli with a pitch in the 3rd inning, and he didn't give up a hit until Jacoby Ellsbury smacked a one-out double in the 4th.

Kluber ran into some trouble in the 6th inning, giving up back-to-back leadoff singles to Derek Jeter, who moved into sole possession of 6th place on baseball's all-time hits list with his 3,431st base knock, and Ellsbury, setting up runners on first and second with nobody out. But Kluber buckled down to strikeout the next three hitters, Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley, and Stephen Drew, to end the inning and escape the danger.

Kluber, in all, struck out 10 in six shutout inning, giving up just four hits while walking one batter on 109 pitches.

McCarthy gave up a pair of hits before handing the ball to Rich Hill with one out in the 7th. Hill gave up a single to Chris Dickerson to load the bases, then got Jason Kipnis to ground into a fielder's choice at the plate for the second out of the inning. Joe Girardi made another pitching change, bringing in Chase Whitley, who struck out Mike Aviles for the final out of the inning.

Michael Brantley added to Cleveland's lead in the 8th inning with a solo homerun off of the right field foul pole against Whitley, pushing the Indians' lead to 3-0.

The Yankees threatened again in the 8th, with Brett Gardner doubling off of Scott Atchison to open the inning. After striking out Jeter, Atchison hit Ellsbury on the left foot with a pitch, putting runners on first and second with one out. But then Atchison battled back to strike out Beltran and Headley to end the inning.

Indians pitchers struck out 15 Yankees hitters, as the Bombers put another one of their weak hitting displays with just four hits, snapping their three-game winning streak.

The Yankees and Indians will finish up their three-game series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET. Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for New York, with Carlos Carrasco getting the ball for Cleveland.

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Yankees 2, Tigers 1: Pitching staff dominates in close win over Detroit

Scoring runs has been a problem for the Yankees all season long, and the odds were not on their side coming into Monday night as they had to face Max Scherzer, the first of three former Cy Young winners they'll see over the next three day. The Yankees only scored two runs, but it was enough for them to down the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, in a close pitchers' duel at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees got their runs early against Scherzer giving starter Brandon McCarthy a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning. Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Gardner, and Derek Jeter opened the bottom of the 3rd with three straight singles to load the bases, then a batter later, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a sac-fly to center field, scoring Ichiro for the game's first run. Carlos Beltran lined out to second, then Brian McCann hit an RBI single into right field that made it a 2-0 game.

Detroit didn't grab a run back until Ian Kinsler put them on the board with an RBI single in the 5th inning off of McCarthy to make it a 2-1 game.

That was the only run the Tigers were able to get off of McCarthy, and the rest of the pitching staff for that matter, and it wasn't even earned -- a throwing error by Martin Prado at third base put the scoring running on. McCarthy ran into danger in the 3rd inning, loading the bases with just one out, but he got out of it unharmed by striking out the next two hitters to end the inning.

He gave up five hits, walked two, and struck out eight on 116 pitches in 5.2 innings, picking up his 4th win since joining the Yankees in early July.

Scherzer was good, too, for the Tigers, but he wasn't good enough to beat McCarthy and the Yankees, giving up the two runs in nine hits, with three walks and four strikeouts in seven innings, throwing 115 pitches.

The game was left in the hands of the bullpen when Joe Girardi, who captured his 700th career win as a manager in this game, pulled McCarthy with two outs in the 6th. Matt Thornton needed three pitches to get the final out of the 6th. Adam Warren gave up just a single in a scoreless 7th inning, ahead of Shawn Kelley who one-upped that with a three up, three down 8th.

All of that leading up to David Robertson, who making going for the save in the third straight game for the Yankees. The right-hander needed just 11 pitches in the 9th, striking out the final two batters of the game to lock down his 30th save of the season.

The parade of Cy Youngs continues on Tuesday night, when David Price makes his Tigers debut, facing off with Hiroki Kuroda at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 111: Facing Cy Young

After six games on the road against last place clubs, the Yankees are back home in Bronx where they welcome the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers for a four game series that kicks off tonight at 7:05 p.m. in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees return home after going 3-3 on that trip, which made stops in Texas and Boston. New York dropped three of the first four games before taking the final two games against the Red Sox over the weekend, including a 8-7 win last night at Fenway Park.

Detroit, meanwhile, comes in town town boasting one of the best offenses in baseball, scoring 4.74 runs per game. The Tigers are coming off of a three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies after dropping five of six games heading into that series over the weekend.

With the Tigers coming into Yankee Stadium, Yankees fans might get a chance to see Joba Chamberlain pitch against in the Bronx. The former Yankees reliever signed with Detroit during the offseason after spending the first seven years of his career in pinstripes. Well, it's almost the same guy coming back -- he's got a full-on beard on his face now.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

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

Pitching matchup preview:

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy gets the ball tonight for the Yankees in the series opener.

Acquired from Arizona in a trade at the beginning of July, McCarthy is 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in pinstripes. He's turned into a great pickup by Brian Cashman, who only had to give up Vidal Nuno to get McCarthy. With everybody else in the rotation going down to injuries, he's been exactly what they needed.

McCarthy, though, is coming off his roughest outing with the Yankees, allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings against the Rangers on July 29.

The Yankees' offense will have a very tough task ahead of them over the next few days, facing the last three Cy Young awards winners, and it begins tonight with the reigning winner, right-hander Max Scherzer, who has a 5.17 ERA in three regular-season starts at Yankee Stadium.

Scherzer -- 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA over his last seven outings -- in is coming off of a start in which he tossed seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees have placed RHP David Phelps on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right arm. Phelps left Sunday night's start against the Red Sox after just two innings because of what the team was then calling inflammation in his elbow. Joe Girardi says that Phelps won't pick up a ball for two weeks.

In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled RHP Matt Daley from Triple-A Scranton. With Phelps on the DL, the Yankees will need to find a start to Friday night against the Indians.

* Masahiro Tanaka played catch today, making 25 throws from 60 feet. He said that he felt good and didn't feel anything wrong with his elbow. He doesn't really know when he might be back, but will continue his path back to the mound by throwing again tomorrow.

* Michael Pineda almost certainly won't be the man pitching for the Yankees on Friday night. He threw 58 pitches in a rehab outing on Sunday, and Girardi doesn't think he's stretched out enough. Pineda told reporters that he'll pitch again on Friday, but isn't sure where it'll be.

* MLB announced today that Brett Gardner has been named the AL Player of the Week after hitting .478 (11-for-23) with three doubles, five homers, seven RBI, five walks and eight runs.

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Yankees 12, Rangers 11: Yanks cling on for extremely close one-run win

As it turns out, Brett Gardner is not the only hitter in the Yankees' lineup that knows how to drive in runs.

After falling behind by three runs in the 3rd, the Bombers exploded for a season-high seven runs in the 6th inning, adding more to that later in the game, as they would go on to beat the Texas Rangers, barely clinging on for 12-11 on Tuesday night in Arlington.

Following a two-homerun performance on Monday night -- both solo homeruns and the only runs scored by the Yankees in the game -- Gardner led off Tuesday night's matchup with a solo homerun to center field off of Rangers starter Nick Martinez, his 12th homerun of the season and third leadoff dinger this season.

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy was on the mound for the Yankees to start the game, and he was working well through the first 2 2/3 inning before the Rangers -- not surprisingly -- glued together a two-out rally that put them ahead.

Alex Rios and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back two-out singles ahead of Jim Adduci, who hit a single to center field that scored Rios to tie the game. A batter later, after McCarthy threw a wild pitch that moved both runners up 90 feet, JP Arencibia doubled to deep right field, bringing in both runners to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Two innings later, in the 5th, Arencibia, who had a monster night at the plate as the seems to love hitting against the Yankees, hit a solo homerun to right field off of McCarthy, making it a 4-1 game.

McCarthy, throwing 108 pitches, was able to make it through six innings, giving up the four runs on nine hits, while walking just one and striking out three. He picked up his third win with the Yankees, and has been quite a nice pickup by Brian Cashman.

The Yankees had runners on first and second base with one out in the 1st inning, but Martinez was very tough to score off of after that, going on a stretch of retiring 13 of 14 hitters before the Yankees' lineup finally woke up in the 6th.

Gardner, who has been on fire lately with four more hits in five at-bats in this game, opened the 6th with a double, then Jeter, who had two hits of his own, reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After Jacoby Ellsbury popped out to the third base side, Mark Teixeira walked to load the bases. Carlos Beltran made it a one-run game with a two-run single into right field, then McCann brought in the tying run on a sac-fly to center field.

After Martinez walked Chase Headley, Ron Washington went to his bullpen, but that didn't help much. Zoilo Almonte greeted the reliever, Shawn Tolleson, with an RBI single, then Brendan Ryan followed with a two-run double that made it a 7-4. Back to the top of the order, Gardner hit a fly ball into the right-center field gap that was dropped after the center fielder and right fielder collided into each other, as Gardy reached third base on the play.

The Yankees added two more runs in the 7th inning -- which, both top and bottom halves, seemed to last forever. After loading the bases with nobody out, Headley hit a one-out single into right that extended the lead to 9-4, then Almonte scored Teixeira on a fielder's choice for the Yankees' 10th run of the game.

Texas, though, climbed back into the game in the bottom half of the 7th inning when Adam Warren loaded the bases with just one out. Joe Girardi brought in Dellin Betances, who is usually lights out as you know. However, the first batter Betances had to face was Arencibia, who made it a two-run game with a grand slam to left field.

Teixeira, in the 8th, came through with the hit that would end up saving the night for the Yankees. Making his first start in over a week because of a lat strain, Teixeira hit a two-run homerun -- his 18th of the year -- to push the Yankees' lead to 12-8, putting them back up by four.

Chase Whitley gave up a run in the 8th on a Beltre groundout, the David Robertson entered in the 9th to close out the game with a three-run lead. Robertson struck out the first batter of the inning before putting the next two batters on. He walked the bases loaded a couple of batters later with two outs, then gave up a two-run single to Elvis Andrus that made it a one-run game. After walking Rios to, again, load the bases, be got Beltre to fly out on a fly ball to the warning track in left to end the game.

That was wayyyyyyyy too close.

The Yankees and Rangers will finish up this three-game series on Wednesday night at 8:05 p.m. ET, when the pitching matchup will be Hiroki Kuroda against Colby Lewis at.

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Game 106: Mark Teixeira returns to the lineup

The Yankees let a win slip out of their hands last night when they fell to the Texas Rangers, 4-2, in the opener of a three game series down in Arlington. If it wasn't for Brett Gardner and his two solo homeruns off of Yu Darvish, the Bombers might not have scored at all with their offense continuing to struggle.

New York has now dropped three straight games since getting off to a 7-1 start following the All-Star break. Again, while their pitching staff has been great lately -- Over the team's last 16 games since July 9, Yankees starters have posted a 2.83 ERA (95.1 IP, 30 ER, 22 BB, 77 K), having allowed more than two earned runs just five times -- the offense has been a no-show too often. A pitcher can be lights out, but it means nothing if he doesn't get any run support.

Tonight's lineup vs Texas: 

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
RF Zoilo Almonte
2B Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will be the man on the mound tonight for the Bombers, making his fourth start with the club. The right-hander is looking to continue the good run that he's been on since joining the Bombers, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his first three starts.

McCarthy earned his second consecutive win on July 24 against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, allowing only one earned run in six innings during a 4-2 Yankees victory.

In his career against the Rangers, McCarthy is 3-5 with a 4.41 ERA (65.1 IP, 32 ER) in 13 career appearances (11 starts).

Starting for the Rangers tonight is right-hander Nick Martinez, who came off the disabled list on July 22 and allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees.

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Yankees 4, Rangers 2: Brandon McCarthy sharp again in Yanks' series finale win

Having taken two of the first three games against the Texas Rangers this week, the Yankees sent right-hander Brandon McCarthy to the mound against Colby Lewis in the finale of a four-game set at Yankee Stadium. Making just his third start in pinstripes, McCarthy looked sharp again, giving up just one run over six innings, as the Yankees beat the Rangers, 4-2, on Thursday afternoon.

Neither team put a runner on base until the 3rd inning, when Texas opened the scoring with their only run against McCarthy. Rounged Odor and Shin-Soo Choo hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with two outs. Then a batter later, Elvis Andrus singled home Odor to put the Rangers up 1-0.

As I mentioned above, the Rangers didn't get another run off of McCarthy, who looked sharp yet again after giving up one run and striking out nine in his last start, against the Reds on Saturday. He only gave up four hits, walked two and struck out five on 109 pitches.

His pitch count ran a little high earlier than you would have liked, but his cutter, which he recently started throwing again, and his sinker were working well for him, helping him work through Rangers' lineup. The Yankees, so far, have turned Vidal Nuno into a pretty good replacement in the rotation.

A couple days after the walk-off single in his Yankee debut, Chase Headley tied up the game in 4th inning with a long single off of the right field wall, scoring Brett Gardner, who double to open the inning, tying the game at 1-1.

The Yankees tacked on two more runs an inning later, putting them up 2-1. Ichiro Suzuki led off the bottom of the 4th with a walk off of Lewis, then Francisco Cervelli doubled into the left field corner, scoring Ichiro all the way from first base for the go-ahead run. Brendan Ryan, a batter later, sacrificed Cervelli over to third base, then after Jacoby Ellsbury worked a walk, Gardner drove in Cervy with a sac-fly to deep left field.

Adam Warren took over on the mound in the 7th inning and was greeted by JP Arencibia, who blasted a solo homerun into the right field seats -- 4th homerun of the year -- to pull the Rangers within a run.

Warren retired the next two hitters before Matt Thornton was brought on the get the final out of the inning. Dellin Betances worked a scoreless nine-pitch 8th inning, with a strikeout.

The Yankees added on an insurance in the 8th when Carlos Beltran singled to start the inning, then Brian McCann doubled him home a batter later to push the Yankees' lead to 4-2.

David Robertson came on the shut the door in the 9th inning. He issued a one-out walk to Jim Adduci, but struck out the next two batters to end the game, sealing his 25th save of the season the Yankees' sixth win since the All-Star break, pushing their recording to 6-1 in the second half.

The Yankees will now welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to town for a three-game series that starts Friday night with Hiroki Kuroda facing off with Mark Buehrle at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 101: Going for the series win

The Yankees got some help from Mother Nature last night, holding off just long enough for the Yankees to take a 2-1 lead against Yu Darvish and the Rangers, then get through 4 1/2 innings to make the game official, which was called after nearly two hours of a rain delay, giving the Yankees a win in the third game of this four game set, concluding today in the Bronx.

The Yankees lost a game, the Sunday night match against the Baltimore Orioles, right before the All-Star break because rain cut that one short, so it's only fitting that they get a win in the same fashion.

Brett Gardner hit the game-winning homerun off of Darvish last night, putting the Yankees up before the rain. It was Gardner's 10th homerun of the season, which is tied with Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran for second most on the team.

Gardner, who will be paid $5.6 million this season under his previously existing contract, has been one of the Yankees' best offensive (maybe the best?) players this season, batting .279 with 41 RBIs and a 3.1 WAR.

Today's lineup against Texas:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
LF Brett Gardner
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
SS Brendan Ryan

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will take the mound for the Yankees today, as the Bombers look to capture the series win and improve their record to 6-1 in the second half of the season.

McCarthy will be making just his third start for the Yankees since being acquired before the All-Star break, and his second start at Yankee Stadium -- fifth of his career here in the Bronx. McCarthy's last outing, against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, was a good one, in which he tossed six innings of one-run ball while striking out nine.

McCarthy said afterwards that he started throwing his cutter again, which he was told not to throw while with the Diamondbacks, and it worked out really well for him on Saturday.

The Rangers will counter with right-hander Colby Lewis, who has never pitched in the new Yankee Stadium before. Lewis faced the Toronto Blue Jays in his last start, giving up two runs on eight hits in five innings.

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Game 96: Brandon McCarthy makes his Bronx debut

The Yankees kicked off the second half of the season with a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium last night. And thanks to Oakland's walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees are just four games back of the AL East leading O's with 67 games left to play, meaning there is still life for this battered Yankees squad.

Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury didn't really live up to their contracts in the first half, but the Yankees' three biggest offseason signings got the job done last night, driving in all four Yankee runs, including a two-run shot from Ellsbury in the 5th that put the Bombers ahead, then hung on for the win.

The Yankees will have a tough time competing for a playoff spot with their rotation suffering the way it is, but it'll be almost impossible without the help from the offense, including those three signings. Maybe this second half will be the turnaround we've all be waiting for.

Today's lineup vs Cincinnati:

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

Pitching matchup preview:

Brandon McCarthy will be making his Yankee Stadium debut today, in what will also be just his second start since joining the Yankees a week before the All-Stare break.

McCarthy made his Yankee debut against the Cleveland Indians, where he allowed four runs (one earned) on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings; he ended up getting a no-decision. McCarthy said after the outing that he wasn't feeling as sharp with his pitches early on, which caused some issues. Hopefully that's not the case today.

Alfredo Simon will be getting the ball for the Reds today. An All-Star during the first half, Simon is tied with Masahiro Tanaka for the Major League lead in wins with 12. Saturday will be the fourth start against the Yankees in his career -- first since September 8, 2011, as a member of the Orioles.

In six career appearances (three starts), Simon is 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA against the Yanks in his career.

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Yankees 5, Indians 4 (F/14): Jacoby Ellsbury plays the hero in extras

On the day that the Yankees' season possibly ended with the news of Masahiro Tanaka going on the disabled list with elbow inflammation, Brandon McCarthy made his Bombers debut, giving up just one earned runs on 6 2/3 innings of work, but ended up with a no-decision, as the Yankees beat the Indians, 5-4, thanks to a go-ahead solo homerun by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 14th inning.

McCarthy's career got off to a rocky start when the Indians put up three runs in the 1st inning -- none of them actually earned.

Jason Kipnis opened the 1st inning with a single off McCarthy. Michael Brantley singled to put runners on 1st and second with one out, then Carlos Santana loaded the bases with a fielder's choice -- Santana hit a ground ball to Mark Teixeira, who threw the ball into Brantley going to second base, rolling away. A batter later, Lonnie Chisenhall grounded out to second base, scoring a run from third base to put the Indians up 1-0. Nick Swisher followed up with a two-run single that made it a 3-0 game.

The Yankees grabbed a run back in the 4th inning when Teixeira hit a solo homerun to right-field off of Josh Tomlin, putting the Yankees on the board.

New York took the lead for a moment in the top of the 5th inning with a three-run frame that would put them ahead by a run. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled and Derek Jeter singled back-to-back with one out to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Brian McCann hit a sac-fly to score Ellsbury, then Teixeira hit a two-run homerun, his second of the game -- 17th of the season -- to put the Bombers up 4-3.

Cleveland got their only earned run against McCarthy in the bottom half of the 5th inning. Santana doubled two batters after Asdrubal Cabrera doubled, driving him home to tie the score at 4-4.

I didn't get to see much of McCarthy's start, but he lasted 6.2 inning, giving up four runs (one earned) on nine hits, with a walk and three strikeouts on 107 pitches.

With the score tied at four runs apiece, nobody would score again for a really long time.

Tomlin lasted seven quality innings for the Indians, giving up four runs on eight hits; he struck out five and didn't walk anybody on 96 pitches.

Matt Thornton recorded the final out of the 7th inning behind McCarthy -- the only out he needed to get. Dellin Betances worked a three up, three down 8th inning with a pair of strikeouts. Adam Warren helped send the game to extra innings with a scoreless 9th, then retired the lead off hitter in the 10th. David Huff entered the game, and exited after walking the bases loaded on three straight batters without recording an out. Luckily Shawn Kelley was able to come on and get the final two outs of the inning to leave the bases loaded.

Kelley worked a quick 11th inning, then Chase Whitley, who will likely be moved back to the rotation with Tanaka going on the DL, tossed two scoreless innings.

Whitley credited with the win after Ellsbury hit a solo homerun off of Vinnie Pestano in the top of the 14th inning, his 6th dinger of the season, to finally break the deadlock. That paved the way for David Robertson to work out of some danger in the bottom half of the inning.

With Kipnis on second base with two outs, Kelly Johnson dropped a pop fly in foul territory while running back to get it. Given a second chance, Brantley hit a fly ball to left field that had Zoilo Almonte make the catch over his shoulder on the run to end the game.

The Yankees and Indians will conclude this series today at 7:05 pm ET. David Phelps and TJ House will be on the mound for their respective teams.

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Game 90: Brandon McCarthy makes his Yankees debut

If you're just joining us today, the NY Post is reporting that Masahiro Tanaka has been flown back to New York to get his right arm checked out. Given all the injuries to their starting rotation that the Yankees have had to deal with this season, this would be the worst of them all.

Brian McCann told reporters this afternoon that he didn't notice anything was wrong with the Tanaka last night while he was giving up a career-high five runs on 10 hits; just said the biggest thing was that he was leaving pitches up in the zone.

The Yankees, who have won four of their last six games after dropping last night's contest against the Indians, 5-3, have not missed the playoffs in back-to-back years in the Wild Card era. We would almost certainly be on the bad side of history if anything series has happened to Tanaka's arm.

Anyway, there is still a game tonight, and the Yankees will be taking the field with the Indians as they try to gain control of this series with the third of four games taking place this evening at Progressive Field.

Tonight's lineup against Cleveland:

CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2B Brian Roberts
C Brian McCann
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
LF Zoilo Almonte
3B Zelous Wheeler
SS Brendan Ryan

* The Yankees have recalled Zoilo Almonte from Triple-A Scranton today. However, no corresponding move has been announced and the Yankees are currently listing 26 players on the lineup card. It's possible that they could be planning to put Tanaka on the DL -- with the All-Star break next week, he'd only have to miss one or two starts.

* Brett Gardner is out of lineup tonight with what he's calling a lower abdominal strain, according to reporters. He thought it might have been hernia, but a doctor confirmed it wasn't.

* Meanwhile, Beltran is back after missing the past couple of games with some swelling in his knee.

Pitching matchup preview:

Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, right-hander Brandon McCarthy will make his Yankees debut tonight against the Indians.

McCarthy is coming to New York after going 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA over 18 starts with Arizona this season. McCarthy was 1-10 with 5.38 ERA in first the 16 starts this season. However, he's won his past two outings, allowing 3 earned runs with 12 strikeouts over 12.2 innings.

Meanwhile, right-hander Josh Tomlin gets the start for the Indians tonight, looking to improve on his 4.11 ERA this season. Aside from a complete-game one-hitter against the Seattle Mariners on June 28, Tomlin has allowed five earned runs in three of his last four outings.

To make things worse for him, Tomlin is 2-4 with a 5.45 ERA in seven starts at Progressive Field this season.

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Yankees acquire Brandon McCarthy from the Diamondbacks for Vidal Nuno

The Yankees made a nice upgrade in their beleaguered starting rotation on Sunday, acquiring right-handed pitcher Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks, along with cash, and all for the price of lefty Vidal Nuno.

ESPN Buster Olney says that the D-Backs will eat $2.05 million of the $4.1 million owed to McCarthy for through the remainder of the 2-14 season. The Yankees, meanwhile, will pay the $1 million assignment bonus in McCarthy's contract -- he is a free-agent after the season.

McCarthy is coming to New York after going 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA over 18 starts with Arizona this season. McCarthy was 1-10 with 5.38 ERA in first the 16 starts this season. However, he's won his past two outings, allowing 3 earned runs with 12 strikeouts over 12.2 innings.

Because of numbers like the first 16 starts, this move doesn't really excite me -- especially when you consider that he was pitching in big pitcher-friendly parks out in the west, and not he'll be coming to a very hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium -- but he's definitely an upgrade over Nuno, who was 2-5 with a 5.42 ERA over 17 appearances (14 starts) in 2014.

He spent several years of his career with the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. He was really good for a couple of years in Oakland during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, but hasn't been as good since moving out to Arizona before the 2013 season.

"McCarthy's an experienced starter," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We expect him to pitch well for us and give us distance. I know he's had his struggles, but he's seemed to turn it around. He's got a good arm, and we need him to help us."

McCarthy told reporters that we will make his Yankee debut on Wednesday in Cleveland, but Girardi wouldn't confirm that, rather hinting the Yankees could bring somebody up from the minors to take Nuno's spot and pitch on Monday.

 Which, by the way, the Yankees just announced that Shane Greene will come up and start against the Cleveland Indians tomorrow.

After reports came out yesterday that the Yankees were swapping proposals on trades with the Chicago Cubs regarding Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel -- both traded to the Athletics -- it only confirmed that Brian Cashman is working away to improve his club a few weeks before the trading deadline.

I think that Cashman made a great deal here, whether it works out or not. I mean, he got the D-Backs to give up McCarthy and pay for part of his salary, and all it took was Nuno! Now that's what I call a steal.

As for Nuno, he'll make his debut for the D-Backs on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins.

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