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| IP | Pitches | Strikes | R (ER) | Hits | Walks | HR | K | GB | WPA | |
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In a day of otherwise crappy news, the Yankees completed a three game sweep of the Cleveland Indians behind Andy Pettitte and a litany of relievers. The crappy news? CC Sabathia has been placed on the disabled list with an adductor strain and Andy Pettitte left today's game with a fractured ankle.
The Pettitte injury happened when Casey Kotchman bounced a line drive off of Pettitte's lower leg to open the fifth inning. Pettitte tried to remain in the game, but after one pitch to the next batter, Joe Girardi was forced to make an early call to the bullpen. A few innings later, the severity of the injury was announced and an early guess puts Pettitte on the shelf for six weeks. Shut up, baseball.
The leading candidates to replace Pettitte and Sabathia in the rotation seem to be Adam Warren and Freddy Garcia. Warren has yet to debut in the major leagues and has posted a 3.86 ERA / 4.23 FIP in 15 starts at AAA this year. And while Garcia was a nightmare opening the season in the rotation, he has pitched much better out of the bullpen, including 2.1 perfect innings tonight. Maybe there's something there. Either way, it's hard to put a rosy spin on replacing CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte with Freddy Garcia and Adam Warren, so I won't try. Shit sucks; weather the storm.
After an unearned run put the Indians ahead, a two-out two-run double from Eric Chavez gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead going into the fifth inning. Once Pettitte had been forced out of the game, the slingshot duo of Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada quickly put the Indians back ahead 3-2, with some more shoddy defense contributing to the let down.
Despite some wildness and an elevated pitch count, Ubaldo Jimenez had flashed some nasty stuff and had mainly kept the Yankees in check. Now behind by a run, the Yankees were able to regain the lead on a punched double into the right field corner from Alex Rodriguez and a long home run from Robinson Cano. Cano's home run came on a breaking ball over the outside part of the plate that he drove well into the seats in left field.
Thankfully, another RBI hit from Eric Chavez gave Rafael Soriano enough wiggle room to give up a run without giving up the lead. Soriano loaded the bases and then walked in a run before inducing a game ending fly ball to left field. Both in terms of command and pure stuff, this wasn't one of Soriano's better outings. But he got his three outs and the Yankees were able to escape with a victory.
The Yankees will host the Chicago White Sox tomorrow at 7:05, with Ivan Nova matching up against Dylan Axelrod.