Unlikely Yankees Cast Pieces Together a Win
For all their spending this off-season, there will be days when the Yankees will have to piece together a win with parts culled from the minor leagues.
On Saturday, the Yankees used a start from Vidal Nuno, a solid relief outing from Dellin Betances and John Ryan Murphy's best day in the majors to defeat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3.
Nuno was not spectacular - four and one-third innings, three earned runs - but he pitched well enough in place of the injured Ivan Nova, who is scheduled to have Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. At this point, the Yankees do not need Nuno to be perfect, they simply need him to ably fill in.
David Robertson pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.
Nuno is one of the more unlikely players to ever be in a Yankees rotation.
As a star high school pitcher in South San Diego, Nuno did not attract much attention from scouts who thought he was too slight at 5 feet 11 inches, 145 pounds. His smallish frame made it difficult for Nuno to throw harder than 80 to 83 miles per hour, which is why he went undrafted.
Undaunted, Nuno attended junior college in San Diego and then transferred to Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 48th round of the 2009 round.
Nuno eventually filled out and put together a solid minor league career with the Indians, but Cleveland released him in March 2011. The Yankees signed him in June of that year after he had a short stay in the Frontier League. Since then he has been one of the team's most consistent starting pitchers in the minors. In three minor league seasons with the Yankees, Nuno has not posted an earned run average higher than 3.00.
Nuno's minor league success led to the Yankees to promote him last season, and he was given a chance to win a rotation spot in May. But he sustained a groin injury and was placed on the 60-day disabled list. He did not pitch for the Yankees again after May 30.
Nuno pitched five scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays last week and Saturday's outing provided another chance to make his case for a spot in the rotation. Should he falter, the Yankees could turn to David Phelps, Wednesday's starter in place of the suspended Michael Pineda, to replace Nova full time.
Nuno did not appear phased after Mike Trout gave the Angels a first-inning lead with an opposite-field home run. After Albert Pujols' single, Nuno retired eight consecutive batters from the first to the fourth inning.
The Yankees took the lead against Angels starter Hector Santiago in the second. Mark Teixeira reached base after being struck by a pitch. Brett Gardner followed with an infield single and Brian Roberts's walk loaded the bases. Teixeira scored the tying run when Santiago was called for a balk. Murphy followed with a two-run single.
The Angels tied the game in the fourth. Pujols led off with a single. He advanced to second base on Howie Kendrick's walk and scored on Roberts's throwing error to narrow the Yankees lead to 3-2. Chris Iannetta's single, which scored Erick Aybar, tied the game at 3-3.
Murphy's home run in the fifth inning, the first of his career, gave the Yankees the lead for good.
Last year Murphy was not as highly regarded as the top offensive prospect Gary Sanchez or Austin Romine, who had 148 plate appearances for the Yankees last year and began this season in the major leagues.
Surprisingly, when Francisco Cervelli went to the disabled list with an injured hamstring earlier this year, the Yankees summoned Murphy and not Romine from the minors. General Manager Brian Cashman said at the time that Murphy was the team's best option in Class AAA, despite the fact Murphy was hitting only .192 at the time for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
But Murphy's two hits and three runs batted in may have proved that it was the right move.
Betances came into the game in the fifth in relief of Nuno who appeared to tire after 72 pitches. Nuno is still making the transition into the rotation after spending most of the season in the bullpen. Bentances, who was awarded the win, pitched two key scoreless innings to lower his E.R.A. to 0.77.
Betances was one of the teams most highly regarded starting pitching prospects several years ago. But control problems hampered him and the Yankees converted him into a reliever. Betances spoke last year of the difficulties of making such a conversion, but after almost a full year in a bullpen role, he seems to have made the transition.
INSIDE PITCH
Before the game, the Yankees purchased the contract of relief pitcher Chris Leroux from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. To make room on the roster, reliever Shane Green was optioned to Scranton.
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