Yankees 2, Rangers 1 (F/14): Chase Whitley starts the game, Chase Headley ends the game

I never thought baseball could be this bad.

As the clock struck midnight, Chase Headley, who was not even at the stadium for the first pitch of the game, smacked a walk-off single into left-center field to send the Yankees and their fans home with a 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers nearly five after later in 14 innings.

Jeff Francis made his long-awaited Yankees debut after being acquired by the team about two weeks ago, and took home the win after pitching a scoreless 14th inning.

It was pretty amazing that this game lasted as long as it did, because the Rangers are terrible at baseball and in no way deserved to win this game. With that said, the Yankees hadn't scored a run in 18 innings before tying the game on an RBI single in the 13th, so it's not like they should have won either. But in the end, the team with the most runs wins, and it was the Yankees in this one.

Another Chase, Chase Whitley, started for the Bombers and delivered a decent quality start. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up seven hits while striking out six and walking none. The Rangers never actually put a serious scoring threat together against Whitley; Robinson Chirinos doubled in the 5th, and that was really as close as they got.

Whitley opened the 7th inning on the mound, but Adrian Beltre singled off of him, and that's where Joe Girardi went to the bullpen. He brought in Matt Thornton for a second straight night to face Leonys Martin, who was out after a two-strike bunt foul. Adam Warren then came in, also for the second straight night, and recorded the final two out of the inning.

Dellin Betances worked a scoreless 8th, striking out a pair of hitters. Then David Robertson retired all six batters he faced in the 9th and 10th innings to keep the game scoreless.

The Yankees had a great chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning after Derek Jeter hit a one-out double then the Rangers intentionally walked Jacoby Ellsbury to get to Carlos Beltran, who, naturally, hit into a double play to send the game to extra innings. The Yankees, again, had a pair of runners on in the 11th after Brett Gardner and Jeter walked ahead of Ellsbury with two outs, and he grounded out to end the frame.

The Yankees' best wasted chance of the game came in the 12th, when Beltran opened with a single then moved to second on a wild pitch. Brian McCann "singled on a shallow fly-ball to left field" when it was actually another dropped fly ball on a McCann popup. Ichiro Suzuki sacrificed both runners over, then the Rangers walked Brian Roberts to face Francisco Cervelli with one out and the bases loaded. Cervy ripped a ball to third base, as Beltre snagged it for the out, then Headley grounded out to end the inning.

Texas broke the scoreless tie in the 13th inning when JP Arencibia kicked off the inning with a solo homerun off of David Huff, who pitched two innings. It pretty much seemed like the game was over at that point.

The Yankees, though, tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. Gardner opened with a double, Jeter moved him to third with a bunt, then Ellsbury singled home Ellsbury to make it a 1-1 game. The Yanks were then forced to bring in Francis, the last pitcher in their bullpen. So you know this game had to end quickly, or else Ichiro was going to pitch.

Roberts hit a one-out ground-rule double in the bottom of the 14th, followed by a single from Cervelli, setting up runners on the corners for Headley, who ended the game with his first hit has a Yankee.

The Yankees and Rangers will continue this four-game series on Wednesday night with David Phelps facing Yu Darvish at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Game 99: Chase Headley joins the Yankees

It had a little bit of everything -- some bad pitching, some poor defense, and a lack of production from the expensive lineup.

Coming into the game having just swept the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend in a convincing fashion, the Yankees' loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night featured the real Yankees squad that we've been watching this season, and not the one that played really well against the Reds -- one not quite built for the playoffs.

The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the 4th, but couldn't hold on when Shane Greene and Matt Thronton gave up three runs in the 6th to fall behind 4-2. And in the end, fives hits from the Yanks' lineup were not enough to overcome five errors -- three by Greene.

Just when you thought that the Yankees had found new life over the weekend, they went back to playing like the team they really are. But maybe Chase Headley will help change things.

Tonight's lineup against Texas:

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

* Headley is listed on the Yankees' roster, but won't be in New York in time for the game. Brian Cashman told reporters that he's expected to be in around 7:30 p.m., and could pinch-hit if needed.

Pitching matchup preview:

Chase Whitley will be on the mound for the Yankees tonight, and that's not really a good thing if you're the Rangers. Texas is just 2-7 this season when facing a rookie starter, and Whitley will become the 9th rookie to face them. The other eight rookies went a combined 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA in nine starts.

In his last start, against the Baltimore Orioles on the Sunday before the All-Star break, Whitley only lasted 3.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits.

Getting the ball for the Rangers is right-hander Nick Martinez, who is making his first start since coming off of the DL after fighting discomfort in his left side. This'll be his first start since July 1, when gave up eight runs (six earned) on seven hits in five innings against the Orioles.

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Yankees 1, Orioles 3 (F/5): Rain-shortened loss sends Yanks into the break at .500

Tonight's game against the Baltimore Orioles called off after four and a half inning, meaning that the O's have won the series finale, 3-1, to head into the All-Star break with a five-game lead over the Yankees. Not really the way you want to head into the break if you're the Yankees, but after a two hour rain delay, you'll take anything to make it stop.

Brett Gardner put the Yankees on the board with a solo homerun to lead off the game against Kevin Gausman. The Yankees' offense was pretty quite after that until what would be the end of the game in the 5th, ending with only four hits.

Gausman pitched all five innings for the Orioles, giving up a run on four hits, striking out two without walking a batter.

Chase Whitley, back in the rotation with Masahiro Tanaka on the DL, held the Orioles scoreless before the first three innings before giving up Baltimore's three runs in the 3rd.

Nelson Cruz walked to open the 4th, then Chris Davis went the opposite way to left for his 15th homerun of the season, a solo shot that put the O's on the board and give them a 2-1 lead. JJ Hardy followed with a double; Whitley retired the next two hitters before Johnathan Schoop singled to center to score Hardy, making it a 3-1 game.

David Huff took over from there, replacing Whitley, who was charged with three runs in five hits, with two walks and four strikeouts.Huff retired Nick Markakis to end the 4th, then walked Steve Pearce to open the bottom of the 5th right before the game went into a two-hour rain delay.

With this rain-shortened loss, the Yankees will head into the four-day break at 47-47 -- obviously not what Brian Cashman and company envisioned when they spent nearly half a billion dollars over the offseason, but with the starting rotation all but completely dead, it could be worse. You never want to say that you're happy with your team being at .500, but I'll take it with this Yankees team and the way things are going.

The Home Run Derby is tonight in Minnesota, and the All-Star Game is on Tuesday, Derek Jeter and Dellin Betances will be there -- Tanaka won't be, he decided he'll skip the game. Jeter will be the starting shortstop for the AL, as you know, and I'm sure they'll do something special for him in his final Mid-Summer Classic.

Until then, I'll see you guys throughout the week on the blog, hopefully. The full Yankees squad will be back on Friday when they open up a series against the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium.

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Game 94: Final game of the first half

It's been an up and down first half of the season for the Yankees to this point, and it comes to a close tonight in Baltimore on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

The Yankees and Orioles have split the first two games of this series -- the Orioles won in 10 innings on Friday night with a 3-2 victory, then the Yanks came back on Saturday to win 3-0, getting a very strong performance from Shane Greene, who tossed 7 1/3 shutout innings, giving up just four hits while striking out nine.

Entering play just four games back of the AL East leading Orioles, the Yankees (47-45) will look to get back a game on Baltimore, while also going into the break with some momentum that they'll hope to bring with them into the second half of the season.

Tonight's lineup against Baltimore:

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

* The Yankees have called up right-hander Bryan Mitchell from the minor leagues to give them an extra arm in the bullpen -- I guess they've realized Whitley hasn't been dependable lately. In a corresponding move, Zoilo Almonte was optioned down to Triple-A.

Pitching matchup preview:

Chase Whitley will be on the mound for the Yankees tonight, making his first start since being moved into the bullpen when the Yankees acquired Brandon McCarthy from the Diamondbacks last weekend. Whitley's last start was against the Minnesota Twins, when he gave up four runs on eight hits in just three innings of work.

He was moved to the bullpen a couple days after, making an appearance against the Indians on Wednesday, tossing two scoreless innings.

Over his last three starts, Whitley has allowed 17 earned runs in nine innings. Hopefully get can get back on track and starting pitching just as he was after being called up in May.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman will oppose Whitley and the Yankees tonight after being recalled from Triple-A on Friday to take the spot of Ubaldo Jimenez, who was suppose to start against the Yankees yesterday before he was placed on the DL with an ankle injury.

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Yankees 6, Twins 5: Brian Roberts has his best game of the season

A night after snapping a five-game losing streak by scoring seven runs against former Yankee Phil Hughes, and Bombers and Twins took the field on Friday afternoon for their second Fourth of July matchup against each other in as many years.

The Yankees jumped all over Twins starter Kyle Gibson early in the game, scoring six runs in the first two innings. The Yanks, throughout the game, were ripping extra-base hits all around the park. Brett Gardner kicked off the game with a triple to left, then Brian Roberts doubled him home to put the Yankees up 1-0. After Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out, moving Roberts to third base, Mark Teixeira double to deep center field, scoring Robert easily to make it a 2-0 game. Teixeira moved to third on a past ball, then scored on a sac-fly by Carlos Beltran for the third run of the inning.

Brian Dozier put the Twins on the board with a lead off homerun in the bottom half of the 1st inning against Chase Whitley, who also gave up a single and a walk in the inning before get third out.

Francisco Cervelli opened up a three-run 2nd inning for the Yankees with a double into the left field corner. Kelly Johnson grounded out to move Cervelli over to third, then Brendan Ryan hit a sac-fly to bring home Cervelli, extending the Yankees' lead to 4-1. Brett Gardner followed with a walk, moved to third on a ground-rule double by Roberts, who had one helluva game at the plate, batting second in place of Derek Jeter, who got the day off. Roberts doubled three times, with also his fourth triple of the season. It should also be noted that Roberts was wearing high socks today, so maybe he should do that more often.

Ellsbury followed up with single that brought home both runners to put the Yankees up 6-1.

Again in the 2nd inning, Chris Colabello started the frame with a solo blast off of Whitley to put the Twins with four, making it a 6-2 games. Whitley worked around a pair of infield singles in the 2nd but only made through one more inning after giving up two runs in the 3rd.

After Kendrys Morales hit a one-out single to right, Oswaldo Arcia tripled to deep center field, scoring Morales. A batter later, Trevor Plouffe singled to put the Twins down by just two runs.

Whitley was done after 74 pitches in just three innings of work. He's been hit around hard in his past few starts, giving up four runs on eight hits in this one, with his ERA inflating up to 5.14. Even worse, the Yankees have no options to replace him without making a trade -- and don't say Adam Warren.

David Huff took over to start the 4th inning, and he tossed his best outing of the bullpen since joining the Yankees this season for the second time in his career. He pitches three perfect inning, striking out three on just 35 pitches. Warren faced three batters in the 7th, record two outs before giving the ball to Dellin Betances, who finished off the 7th, then pitched the entire 8th inning, giving up a run that brought the Twins within a run, making it a 6-5 game.

David Robertson pitched the 9th inning, striking out the side around a two-out double by Kurt Suzuki to seal the Yankees' second consecutive victory and his 20th save of the season.

The Yankees are back ot being above .500, and will try to go two games over on Saturday afternoon with David Phelps on the mound against Yohan Pino at 2:05 pm ET.

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Game 85: Happy 4th of July, America

For the second year in a row, the Yankees are in Minnesota with an Fourth of July matchup with the Twins.

They're hoping to keep the momentum going this afternoon at 3 pm ET after taking the opening of this four-game series last night with a 7-4 win over their former teammate, Phil Hughes. Zelous Wheeler made his major league debut last night, batting 8th in the lineup and playing third base. He hit s solo homerun in his second big league at-bat and singled later in the game to finish 2-for-4.

Wheeler, however, is not in the lineup this afternoon for some reason, and neither is Brian McCann, who singled last night, and Derek Jeter, who I presume is just getting a day off.

Mark Teixeira was back in the Yankees' lineup last night, a day after getting his knee drained. Teixeira showed no lingering signs of the draining, going 2-for-4.

Today's lineup against Minnesota:

LF Brett Gardner
2B Brian Roberts
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
3B Kelly Johnson
SS Brendan Ryan

*  CC Sabathia is on his way to see Dr. James Andrews about his knee. There is still a good chance that surgery will be needed, and the future of his return to a big league mound is more unclear than ever right now.

Pitching matchup preview:

Right-hander Chase Whitley will get the ball for the Yankees today, following up fellow rookie Masahiro Tanaka, who picked up his 12th win of the season last night. Whitley looked good in his first handful of big league starts, but has been roughed up lately, having allowed 13 runs on 19 hits in 7 1/3 innings over his last two starts.

His last start was against the Boston Red Sox, in which he gave up five runs on eight hits, including a three-run homerun to David Ortiz.

"He just made some mistakes that looked like they were in the middle of the plate," Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters after that loss. "He was able to escape the first two innings and minimize the damage with some double-play balls, but then he gave up the big three-run homer."

On the mound for the Twins is right-hander Kyle Gibson, who will be facing the Bombers for the third time in the last two seasons.

Gibson allowed 11 runs (10 earned) over 10 1/3 innings in the first two outings against the Yankees, but has pitching better of late, with a 2.61 ERA and an 0.94 WHIP in his last five starts.

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Yankees 5, Red Sox 8: Pitching staff hurts the Yanks in series final against Boston

Coming off of a tough outing against the Toronto Blue Jays last week, Chase Whitley followed up with another disappointing start against Boston on Sunday night, giving up five runs in four-plus innings, as the Yankees fell to Red Sox, 8-5, in a Sunday Night Baseball matchup on ESPN.

The Red Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning on an RBI single by the struggling Stephen Drew, scoring Mike Napoli, who doubled off of Whitley to open the inning. Boston grew it's lead to 4-0 and inning later when Brock Holt walked and Dustin Pedroia singled to put a pair of runners on base ahead of David Ortiz, who belted a three-run homerun -- No. 450 of his career -- far into the right field seats to open up the game.

Ortiz's homerun gave Red Sox starter John Lackey some room to work with, which he would give back, for the most part.

With the offense struggling of late, the Yankees would not be shutout in this game. Ichiro Suzuki reached safely on a one-out error, stole second and moved to third on a Brett Gardner, then Derek Jeter, who picked up two hits tonight, singled into right field to score Ichiro, putting the Yankees on the board.

Mark Teixeira hardly sliced a solo homerun inside the right field foul pole in the bottom 4th inning, cutting Boston's lead in half to make it a 4-2 game. That was Teixeira's 15th dinger of the season -- he's been nothing short of what the Yankees needed from him this season. Two batters later, Carlos Beltran belted his 8th long ball of the year, pulling the Yanks within a run. Beltran had a good game, going 3-for-4, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

After the Yankees were able to close the gap, Boston wasted no time opening it back up in the top half of the 5th inning.

Whitley walked Jackie Bradley Jr to open the frame, and that was the last of his night. Bradley would eventually come around to score, being the fifth and final of the five earned runs charged to Whitley on eight hits, two walks and a strikeout. Whitley was great during his first few weeks, but has taken a few steps back lately. It would be nice if he can readjust, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Joe Girardi brought Shawn Kelley, the usual 7th or 8th inning man, into the game and he walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases with nobody out ahead of Pedroia, who singled home two runs to put the Sox put up by three.

Thus ended the night of Kelley. On came long-man David Huff, who didn't last very long. He retired Ortiz for the first out of the 5th, then the Red Sox executed some heads up baseball to produce their seventh run of the night. Pedroia caught himself in a rundown between first and second, and by the time they got him out, Daniel Nava took off from third base to score, pushing their lead to 7-3.

After finally getting out of that half of the inning, the Yankees put two more runs on the board in an attempt to close to gap once more.

Ichiro tripled to deep right field when the ball rolled back to the warming track past a diving Mookie Betts, Gardner followed with a run-scoring double, then two batters, after Gardner moved to third base on a Jeter groundout, Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out bring in Gardner, cutting the lead down to 7-5.

Lackey wasn't great. He made it through five innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Huff returned to the mound to begin the 6th inning -- this game was running at a very slow pace -- and put on the first three batters with a walk and two singles to load the bases. He was done, and Dellin Betances entered. He struck out Nava, got Pedroia to fly out -- still scoring a run -- then got Ortiz to ground out to end the inning with just a run in.

Betances finished with a three up, three down 7th inning, only needing 20 pitches to complete to frames, and the Yankees' offense was never heard of again. Matt Thornton and Jose Ramirez tossed scoreless 8th and 9th inning, each striking out a pair. And after Lackey left, the Sox used four pitchers to get through the final four innings, finishing off the win and claiming victory in the series finale after dropping the opening game on Friday night.

Up next for the Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays will come to town for a three-game set that starts on Monday night. David Phelps will be on the mound for the Bombers to faceoff with Chris Archer.

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Game 80: Sunday Night Baseball

Masahiro Tanaka threw a 1-2 fastball with two outs in the 9th, Mike Napoli hit it just long enough to escape the ballpark, proceeded to call Tanaka an "idiot," and the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 2-1, on Saturday night, even this three-game series at a game a piece heading into Sunday night's series finale.

The Yankees managed to only collected five hits in nine innings, eight of those innings pitched by Jon Lester, who continued his hot run of pitching with another solid outing, tossing eight innings of one-run ball.

Jacoby Ellsbury picked up two of the five hits, and only three other players added one of their own. The offense is struggling, and even when it can look good, there are still problems hiding within. Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran are both having poor seasons during their first in pinstripes, and Robinson Cano's replacement, Brian Roberts, has been nothing short of terrible, too.

Simply put: the starting rotation isn't the only thing needing an upgrade at the trade deadline. The Yankees have a lot of problems to fix if they hope to make a playoff run, and the lineup is one of them.

Tonight's lineup against Boston:

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

Ichiro Suzuki, RF

Pitching matchup preview

Well, one Yankees rookie, Tanaka, couldn't get the job done last night, despite the complete-game effort, so it'll be up to another Yankees rookie tonight, right-hander Chase Whitley, who has surprised many with his quality pitching so far this season since being called up back on May.

Whitley is looking to rebound from the worst outing of his big league career, when the Toronto Blue Jays tagged his for eight runs on 11 hits, knocking him out of the game after just 3.2 innings.

On the mound for Boston is right-hander John Lackey, who has been a much better pitcher for the Red Sox over the past two season coming off of Tommy John surgery.

Lackey has been one of the team's most consistent starters this season, but he, too, is coming off of a bad outing, when the Mariners hit him around for seven run on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

He into tonight's game with a record of 8-5 with a 3.45 ERA this season, but in four career starts at Yankee Stadium, he is 1-2 with an 8.10 ERA.

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Yankees 3, Blue Jays 8: Whitley whipped around as Yanks drop series opener in Toronto

Well it was bound to happen eventually: Chase Whitley suffered his first loss of the season since taking over in the rotation back in May, as the Toronto Blue Jays knocked him around, hard, for eight runs on 11 hits in 3.1 innings -- his shortest outing of the season -- in the Yankees 8-3 loss to Toronto in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on an Adam Lind single, scoring Melky Cabrera, who extending his hitting streak against the Yankees to 20 games, the Blue Jays blew the game open for six runs on seven hits in the 2nd inning. Three straight reached to open the inning, then Jose Reyes grounded into a fielder's choice, scoring one. Cabrera singled to make it 3-0, then Lind hit a three-run shot that made it a 6-0 Jays lead.

A few batters later, Dioner Navarro doubled home Edwin Encarnacion, putting the Blue Jays up 7-0.

Mark Teixeira put the Yankees on the board in the top of the 4th inning with a solo shot to center field that appears to maybe tip off of Colby Rasmus' glove, bouncing over the wall for his 13th dinger of the season, which leads the Yankees.

Whitley's night ended with one out in the 4th inning when Navarro drove in another run against him, pushing Toronto's lead to 8-1.

For a kid that had been working as a reliever for pretty much his entire pro career, there was reason to believe that Whitley would not be able to keep up this hot streak during his rookie season. He's a quality pitcher, but he's not Masahiro Tanaka. Some team was bound to get to him eventually.

The Yankee' bullpen took over from there, starting with David Huff, who worked 3.2 innings, giving up just one hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. Not a bad night for him. And than Shawn Kelley followed with a scoreless 8th inning, striking out the side while giving up just one hit.

Yangervis Solarte finally broke his 0 for 28 skid in the 9th inning with an RBI single to score Francisco Cervelli, who walked to open the inning, closing the deficit to 8-2, then two batters later, Kelly Johnson hit an RBI double down the left field line, making it a 8-3 game.

The loss snapped the Yankees' 10-game weekday winning streak, and now they'll have to start up a new streak come Tuesday, when David Phelps and Mark Buehrle square off at 7:07 pm ET.

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Game 75: Derek Jeter gets the night off for opener in Toronto

The Yankees don't win games on the weekend, but they are playing pretty well during the normal work week. After falling to the Baltimore Orioles, 8-0, yesterday, the Yankees have dropped seven straight weekend games going back to June 1. On the other side of things, they enter Monday night's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on a 10-game.

Toronto, who leads currently holds a 1.5 game lead in the AL East, dropped it's last two games to the Cincinnati Reds and just placed third baseman Brett Lawrie on the disabled list today with a fractured right index finger suffered during the Jays' visit to New York last week.

One of the league's top MVP candidates, Jose Bautista, is sitting out tonight's game with a hamstring issue. He is currently listed as day-to-day.

Tonight's lineup against Toronto:

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

P Chase Whitley

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Yankees 7, Blue Jays 3: Brian McCann drives in five runs with a homerun and triple

It's been a long time since the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and it's been an even longer time since Mark Buehrle beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium -- 10 years, to be exact -- and neither of those streaks would come to an end on Wednesday night, as the Yanks took care of business against the Jays for the 15th straight time at home with a 7-3 win.

Chase Whitley delivered another solid start on the mound, giving the Yankees five innings of two-run ball to pick his up third consecutive win, as he hasn't lost an outing this season.

At the plate, Brian McCann did almost all of the damage for the Bombers, driving in five of their seven runs with a two-run homerun and even a bases clearing triple (!) in the 7th.

Alfonso Soriano gave Whitley and the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning with an RBI single that drove in Brett Gardner, who singled to center field to open the game with one of his four hits on the night -- his first four-hit game since June 9, 2013 (5th in his career), and his first game with at least three hits this season.

Whitley worked his way through the first three innings with just two hits marked to his credit before running into trouble in the 4th inning, where the Jays would score a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead.

Jose Bautista singled to open the inning, but was quickly wiped off of the bases when Edwin Encarnacion grounded into a fielder's choice at second base for the first out. Brett Lawrie was hit on the hand by a pitch, putting runners on first and second. After Juan Francisco struck out, Dioner Navarro and Rasmus lined back-to-back run-scoring singles to bring in the two runs.

The Blue Jays would not hold that lead for long, however. After Carlos Beltran opened the bottom of the 4th inning with a single, then McCann followed with a line drive homerun to the short porch in right field -- his 8th homerun of the season -- to put the Yankees back up, 3-2.

McCann's shot was the definition of a Yankee Stadium homerun, in that it was noted on Twitter that the ball would not have left the yard in any other Major League ballpark.

Whitley then followed up by working around a one-out walk to Melky Cabrera in the 5th inning to get out of the inning, Whitley's final frame of the night. Again, this was another solid outing for the youngster, facing a very dangerous Toronto lineup that, combined with Yankee Stadium, could do some real damage.

They only managed two runs on five hits against him. Whitley's walk to Cabrera in the 5th was his first walk in his last five innings, spanning over 33 innings. He also struck out two while tossing a career-high 95 pitches.

Adam Warren took over in the 6th inning and two two straight three up, three down innings. He struck out the side in the 6th, and got three straight groundouts to Brian Roberts in the 7th. A lot of people have mentioned lately that Warren should be moved into the rotation for Vidal Nuno, while I think that would be just silly. Joe Girardi would be losing a very valuable arm in his bullpen by making that move.

The Yankees scored four insurance runs in the bottom of the 7th inning against the Jays' bullpen to give their bullpen some more breathing room.

Ichiro came off of the bench with the bases loaded to face the left-hander Brett Cecil, drawing a walk to force in a run, making it a 4-2 game. After Beltran popped out, McCann lined a ball into the right-center field gap that just barely missed the glove of a diving Rasmus, rolling far enough for McCann to leg out just the third triple of his career.

Up by four in the 8th, Girardi called upon Jose Ramirez to face the middle of the Jays' order. That didn't go very well, as Ramirez gave up back-to-back doubles to open the inning -- the second being an RBI double by Bautista -- and quickly ending his night.

Dellin Betances took over from there and set down three of the next four Blue Jays, two on a pair of filthy breaking balls, to get out of the 9th inning. David Robertson recorded save No. 18 on the year a three up, three down nine, striking out a batter, too, which he does a lot in the 9th inning these days, to seal out the game and pull the Yankees to within just 2 1/2 games of the Jays in the AL East.

The finale of this three game series is Thursday night in the Bronx, with David Phelps and Drew Hucthinson squaring off at our normal 7:05 pm ET.

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Game 70: Whitley Wednesday

Masahiro Tanaka has been the toast of the town this season, leading the Major Leagues with 11 wins after picking up another one last night against the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays when he held Toronto to just one runs on five hits over six innings, as the Yankees went on to take the series opener 3-1.

But while Tanaka been dominating the league as the early favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year award, there has also been another rookie pitcher making his way through lineups fairly easily -- right-hander Chase Whitley.

Coming off of his first career victory, against the Kansas City Royals, when he tossed seven innings of two-run ball -- also the longest outing of his short career -- the rookie right-hander struck out six Seattle Mariners over 7.2 innings, permitting just two runs on five hits.

He didn't walk a single batter in either one of those starts, and has only issued three free passes in 33.2 innings.

Whitley's career high in pitches in a game is only 91, and that was against the St. Louis Cardinals a couple weeks ago. It'll be interesting to see how far he can make it tonight's game against a Blue Jays lineup that will work the count, and made Tanaka throw over 100 pitches in only six innings.

Tonight's lineup against Mark Buehrle:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Alfonso Soriano
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
3B Yangervis Solarte
2B Brian Roberts

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Ace Whitley: Rookie right-hander stepping up when the Yankees needed another arm

So far this season, there have been very few players worth watching on this Yankees team.

Yangervis Solarte has always been an interesting watch -- just when you think he's going to cool off, he goes on a spurt that makes you believe in him again. Jacoby Ellsbury was awful in May, but is riding a 16-game hitting streak into Friday. Dellin Betances strikes out everybody in his path. And the most watchable player, Masahiro Tanaka, might just win the MVP award this season.

Chase Whitley has only been in the big leagues long enough to make six career starts, but he's quickly becoming another one of those players worth watching.

Coming off of his first career victory, against the Kansas City Royals, when he tossed seven innings of two-run ball -- also the longest outing of his short career -- the rookie right-hander struck out six Seattle Mariners over 7.2 innings, permitting just two runs on five hits.

He didn't walk a single batter in either one of those starts, and has only issued three free passes in 33.2 innings.

It's not very often that the Yankees bring up a starter from the minor leagues and he has immediate success, but Whitley has done a swell job of holding his own so far, and has done a lot to help pick up a rotation that was only being supported by Tanaka while CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova sit on the disabled list.

If you want to compare the numbers, Whitley has actually been pitching about the same, if not better, than Pineda was before his pine tar suspension and injury happened.

Through his only four starts, Pineda had a 6.86 K/9, 1.36 BB/9, 24.6 GB%, while Whitley has a 6.42 K/9, 0.80 BB/9, 43.7 GB%. I think the biggest thing is that he gets a lot more ground balls, which, obviously, plays well in Yankee Stadium.

Those groundball numbers play to the fact that Whitley throws a good changeup, and also mixes in a quality sinker with his slider and fastball.

According to BrooksBaseball.net, Whitley threw 18 sinkers last, 17 for strikes, and 8 of 12 swings put the ball in play, and only one of those eight balls in play was a non-out.

Whitley still has a little way to go before I can be on board with the idea that he's going to be the real deal and a possibly third starter down the road behind Tanaka and Nova. As we saw last night, building up his pitch count is still an issue.

His career high for pitches was 91 a couple weeks ago against the St. Louis Cardinals, and up until the end of the 2013 season, he was a reliever not use to throwing a whole lot of pitches. He’s thrown more than 60 pitches in an outing just 13 times in his entire pro-ball career. But if the last two starts indicate anything, it's that he'll be able to work deep into games against teams that don't work counts well -- like the Royals and Mariners.

The Yankees really needed somebody to step up in the rotation when all of the injuries struck, and if it wasn't for Tanaka, Whitley would probably be the best rookie to take the field for the Yankees this season.

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Yankees 6, Mariners 3: Chase Whitley impressive again as New York completes sweep of Seattle

Move over, Masahiro Tanaka, because Chase Whitley is coming for that Rookie of the Year award.

The young Yankee right-hander followed up his first Major League win last weekend against the Kansas City Royals by holding the Seattle Mariners to just two runs in five hits in 7.2 innings, as the Yankees completed the sweep of the Mariners with a 6-3 victory on Thursday night in Seattle.

Whitley also got some help from the Yankees' offense, which put up more than four runs for the first time since May 27.

Jacoby Ellsbury started off the game with a two-run homerun in the top of the 1st inning that put the Yankees ahead, 2-0, against Mariners starter Roenis Elias. After Derek Jeter picked up one of his three singled with one out in the 1st, Ellsbury smacked his 4th homerun of the season into the right field seats.

Ellsbury made a great play later in the game, robbing Robinson Cano of extra base with a great leaping catch at the wall. However, Ellsbury would later leave the game in the 7th for right hip tightness, something that popped up earlier this week on Kansas City. For now, all we can do is hold our breath for the guy that is now on a 16-game hitting streak.

Logan Morrison put the Mariners on the board with a solo homerun to right field off of Whitley in the 2nd, probably the worst mark to his name on the night.

Alfonso Soriano tacked on a pair of runs in the 3rd inning, extending the Yankees' lead to 4-1. Jeter singled and Ellsbury walked to open the inning, then after a Mark Teixeira fly-out, Soriano doubled to the wall in left-center field, scoring both Jeter and Ellsbury.

An inning later, Jeter singled off of Dominic Leone for his third hit of the night, bringing home both Brian Roberts and John Ryan Murphy, who walked and singled against Elias to begin the 4th inning. That put the Yankees up 6-1, their largest lead in a while.

The Mariners were able to add on just one more run against Whitley in the 5th inning when Brad Miller hit a one-out double -- his second hit of the game -- and James Jones singled two batters later to make it a 6-2 ballgame.

But that was all Whitley would allow, as he was impressive for the second straight outing. No, wait, he's been impressive in each of his outings this season since being called up in May.

He entered the 8th inning with just 78 pitches, working very efficiently with six strikeouts through the first seven innings. Joe Girardi pulled him with two outs in the 8th to bring on Matt Thornton, who hadn't pitched since May 4.

But Whitley this season, though. He's been much better than I, or anybody, expected. Behind Tanaka, this kid has been the team's best start over the past month.

Thornton walked Cano then retired Kyle Seager to end the 8th. Shawn Kelley opened the 9th inning for his first outing off of the DL, but his first big league outing since May 6 didn't go very well. Stefan Romero flew out to open the inning, but back-to-back doubles by Dustin Ackley and Morrison put a run on the board, and David Robertson into the game to record his 16th save of the season with a pair of strikeouts to end the game.

After completing this sweep, the Yankees will continue this west coast swing with a three-game series in Oakland that starts on Friday with a 10:05 pm game against the Athletics. David Phelps will face off with the A's young stud Sonny Gray.

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Yankees 4, Royals 2: Chase Whitley tosses seven innings for fist MLB win

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

Chase Whitley went through his first four big league starts without picking up a decision or making it past five innings. He accomplished both of those feats on Friday night, holding the Kansas City Royals to two-runs over seven innings in the Yankees' 4-2 victory over the Royals in the first of a four-game set this weekend at Kauffman Stadium.

The Yankees scored four runs in the first three innings, and didn't manage to get any more runners across the pate for the rest of the game after that, but Whitley and the bullpen made sure that wasn't an issue.

Brian Roberts put the Yankees up 1-0 in the 2nd inning on a two-out single to center field that scored Mark Teixeira, who singled to open the inning then moved over to second base on an Brian McCann groundout.

The Royals, though, tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the 2nd inning on an single off the bat of Salvador Perez following an Alex Gordon double.

The Yankees re-took the lead in the 3rd inning after Jeremy Guthrie loaded the bases with one out. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner singled back-to-back to open the frame -- and I want to note that Ellsbury was batting leadoff for the first time in forever with Derek Jeter on the bench tonight, and I really like those two together at the top of the lineup, creating runs with their speed -- then after Carlos Beltran grounded out to move the runners over, Mark Teixeira was hit by a Guthrie pitch to load the bases.

A batter later, McCann slapped a ball the other way into left field, getting all the way into the left field corner for a bases-clearing double, as McCann ended up at third base when the thrown from the cut-off man went to the plate, putting the Yanks up 4-1.. McCann might not be hitting too many homeruns this season, but he sure is going to the opposite field.

Whitley was able to hold that three-run lead for the next couple of innings before the Royals tagged him for one more run in the 5th.

Gordon singled then stole second base to kick off the inning, then two batters later, Lorenzo Cain singled into center field, scoring Gordon to cut the lead to 4-2. Ellsbury threw the ball back into Brendan Ryan around the edge of the infield, and Cain caught Roberts sleeping, taking second with nobody at the bag. It was alright, though, because he didn't score.

Whitley made it through that inning, as well as the 6th and the 7th, finishing his best start as a big league pitcher since being called up back in May. He gave up just the two runs on five hits, striking out three without a walk on 87 pitches.

This was his fifth start this season, and I must say that I really like this kid. He's not the kind of guy that is going to end up as a second of third starter down the road, but I do think he is very quality, and as long as he can start getting past five innings in each start, he can be a very solid No. 4 starter going forward, possibly.

Joe Girardi handed the ball to Dellin Betances to begin the 8th. He struck out the first two batters -- because that's what he does -- then gave up a double to Alcides Escobar before getting a groundout to end the inning.

Betances then gave way to David Robertson, who locked down his 14th save of the season. He put on his best Betances impression by striking out the first two batters, but then put on his best Robertson impression by making the game far more interesting than it should have been. He gave up a double to Billy Butler, then walked Gordon on four pitchers before getting Perez to groundout to Yangervis Solarte to end the game.

The Yankees and Royals will continue this four-game series on Saturday night at 7:15 pm ET with David Phelps and Danny Duffy squaring off in that contest.

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