The Yankees also acquired OF Eric Young Jr. from the Brewers for cash considerations and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, although he will be called up in September when rosters can be expanded.
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Another rough night for the bullpen was ultimately salvaged in the 10th inning by a two-out infield single from Jacoby Ellsbury and an unlikely save for Shreve, who needed just five pitches to finish off a 5-4 Yankees win against the Royals.
Shreve entered with the bases full of Royals. This is Alexander’s second stint and Pounders’ third with the Royals this season.
Shreve responded by calmly striking out Kendrys Morales, then retiring Salvador Perez on a fly out, to preserve a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
Manager Joe Girardi said there was no chance he was going to let Tanaka go back on the mound in the sixth more than an hour after he finished the bottom of the fifth.
“That’s really important as we move forward”, Girardi said before the game, speaking generally of strengthening the bridge from his starters to Betances. Dyson then stole second with no outs. Heller surprisingly managed to strike Cain out, so Girardi made a decision to intentionally walk Hosmer with Morales due up next.
Royals: CF Lorenzo Cain (sprained wrist) got the night off. “Wade would have been available today”, Royals manager Ned Yost said. But Escobar turned on an off speed pitch and sent it in the stands just beyond the wall. Judge had just one hit in his previous 20 at-bats before that homer. It was Morales’ team-leading 22nd home run, matching his 2015 season total.The Royals added an unearned run in the second.
The ball hit off Royals’ closer Joakim Soria and deflected toward third. That matched Ellsbury’s career high, the 14th time in his career he accomplished the feat.
“That was an easy ground ball right to me”, Soria said. “I don’t know if I slipped or something, but I ended up on the ground. Obviously, it didn’t happen”.
Brian McCann and Chase Headley singled to start the inning, but Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin struck out – with Mark Teixeira unavailable because of neck spasms. Brett Gardner drew his third walk to load the bases before Ellsbury’s hit. It was slow enough to score a run to put the Yankees in front, 5-4.
Dellin Betances (3-4) tossed two scoreless innings of relief for NY before Ben Heller loaded the bases with one out in the 10th.
Ben Heller (1-0) pitched a ideal 12th for NY to earn his first major league win, which Dellin Betances wrapped up by working around a leadoff walk for his seventh save.
Brian McCann collected three hits for NY, and Gardner had two hits and reached base five times.
RED SOX 8, RAYS 6 Hanley Ramirez hit a grand slam, and Aaron Hill later sliced an RBI single to break an eighth-inning tie to help Boston beat visiting Tampa Bay.
Ben Heller (1-0) pitched a flawless 12th to earn his first major league victory, which Dellin Betances preserved by working around a leadoff walk for his seventh save. Cain exploited his weakness by bolting for second base, and Gregorius couldn’t handle Sanchez’s short-hop throw, allowing Cain to move to third on the error. That’s when a 42-minute delay forced Michael Pineda from the game after five innings – only to see the bullpen surrender a dozen unanswered runs. The 6-foot-5 righty is 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA at Omaha, holding the opposition to a.226 average, while recording 90 strikeouts in 80.1 innings.
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The Yankees were in good shape before the rain, but after a 59-minute delay, this game very almost got away from them.
