Manager Joe Girardi indicated the plan is for the righty to rejoin the Yankees if all goes according to plan Friday, so Pineda could make his next major league start at some point next week. He threw 62 pitches.
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“I think that’s something we’re going to have to look at”, Girardi said Wednesday. “From what I understand, 63 pitches and another 10 in the bullpen”.
He has made eight starts for the local nine over the last two seasons, including six when he was coming back from shoulder surgery in 2013. Top prospect Luis Severino has been filling in for Pineda for the past few weeks and he’s pitched so well that it’s hard to imagine the Yankees removing him from the rotation, and he doesn’t deserve to lose his spot either.
The Yankees will use a six-man rotation for the time being. He was pulled from that game and hasn’t played since. “It’s easier to do in September”.
“It’s been a lot of days in a row and it’s a day game after a night game”, Girardi said of resting A-Rod, who had homered twice in his previous four games, including a go-ahead grand slam Tuesday against the Twins. “So far, everything he’s done has been good”. “We know it’s day to day, and hopefully one day he’ll come in turn the corner”. “Cabrera had a slow clock and really had an understanding of what he wanted to do”, Girardi said. “He still has some stitches that need to be removed before we would let him pitch”.
Girardi said the 24-year-old, on the seven-day concussion DL, has not experienced anymore symptoms.
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And it appears that from now until the end of the season, barring injury, the Yankees will throw Pineda, Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Nathan Eovaldi and Ivan Nova (in that order), which will allow each player extra rest.
