On a day when Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman were not available out of the bullpen, the Yankees offense helped ease the pressure on manager Joe Girardi.
Led by solo home runs from Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira, the Yankees beat the Giants, 5-2, in the final game of a 10-game homestand in which they finished 6-4.
Girardi needed length from starter Nathan Eovaldi with a shortened bullpen. The righthander battled through 6 2⁄3 innings, tossing 118 pitches before yielding to a makeshift late-inning combination of Chasen Shreve and Chad Green.
After scoring three runs in the sixth, highlighted by Didi Gregorius’ two-out RBI double that made the score 5-0 — Eovaldi came back out for the seventh.
He was lifted with runners on first and second for Shreve, who walked lefty Brandon Belt to load the bases. Green came on and allowed a two-run single to Buster Posey before getting Brandon Crawford to ground out to first and end the threat.
Green pitched the final two innings and earned his first major-league save.
It certainly wasn’t the formula Girardi drew up in mid-May when Chapman returned from suspension, giving the Yankees a dominant threesome in the bullpen. But Girardi recognized that for the Yankees to compete, he needs to give his top arms rest.
“It’s not what you want,” Girardi said before the game. “We’ve gotten in some games — especially on this homestand — where they’ve been used a lot. We’ve had a lot of close games. I have to make sure they’re taken care of.”
Trade rumors concerning Chapman didn’t motivate Girardi to sit the lefthander. Girardi said his goal is to win games and keep his players focused.
“Obviously you’re going to hear a lot of things over the next week,” he said. “A lot of it still depends on how we do. What we told the players is that you have to block the noise out.”
The Yankees appeared focused early against Giants starter Jeff Samardzija. Beltran homered to rightfield with two outs in the first, giving Eovaldi an early advantage. Teixeira followed suit in the second, homering into the Yankees’ bullpen with two outs.
Eovaldi (9-6, 4.80) nearly blew the two-run cushion in the fourth. San Francisco had the bases loaded with one out with Mac Williamson at the plate. After a long at-bat, he popped out to Teixeira in foul territory, screaming at himself as he walked back to the dugout.
Former Yankee Ramiro Pena then grounded out to Starlin Castro at second base, ending the threat.
..... - Newsday