Game 93: Mitre gets his shot

Sergio Mitre, of Marlins and Cubs fame, makes his Yankee debut tonight, and his first start in the Bigs since September of 2007. His five-year stint saw him compile a 5.36 ERA over 310.2 innings. Chad Jennings summed up his time in Scranton:

Through seven Triple-A starts, Mitre has been terrific [45 ip, 35 K, 5 BB, 2.40 ERA]. His last start was one of the best Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starts of the season with eight scoreless innings, during which he clearly got better as the game progressed. When Joe Girardi was asked two days ago what he remembered about Mitre from his time with the Florida Marlins, Girardi said he remembered him as 88-91 with his sinker. With Scranton/Wilkes-Barre he's been 90-93 and he's had good life down in the zone. Like pitching coach Scott Aldred said, he only threw a handful of pitches above the knees in his last start.

"Physically I felt good, I felt pretty much the same when I got here," Mitre said. "Pitching-wise, I've gotten better. When I first got here, I was on a pitch count and I was getting kind of built up. My last three starts, they kind of let me go a little bit. I was trying to build arm strength. Those last three outings they let me go and I bounced back. The main thing has always been, how would I respond after throwing 90 pitches and then 100 pitches, and everything went well."

Oriole hitters have a combined six PA against Mitre - three by Ty Wigginton (.666 OPSA), three by Luke Scott (1.667).

Opposing him will be southpaw Rich Hill, yet one more pitcher the Yankees have (virtually) never seen. The only Yankee batter who's ever faced him is Robbie Cano, who drew a walk when Hill was a reliever on the Cubs. Ironically, Mitre was teammates with Hill back in 2005.

Hill has been disappointing since joining the O's in an offseason trade. His ERA stands at 7.22 with a 1.80 WHIP.