Since Gerrit Cole’s return to their rotation, no team has gotten more innings per start than the Yankees.
And in those eight games with their ace back from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees have a 1.61 ERA from their starters, by far the best in the majors.
That’s also without the services of perhaps their second-best pitcher, Max Fried, still on the IL with a bone bruise in his left elbow.
The emergence of Tuesday’s starter against Cleveland, Cam Schlittler, has been as big a reason as any for the Yankees’ success in that area, but they are routinely getting six-plus innings from whomever is on the mound.
“I feel like the starting pitching has been mostly excellent,’’ Aaron Boone said in West Sacramento, Calif. “They just set a really good tone for us every day.”
And they figure to be even more consistent as Carlos Rodón gets back into form and Fried returns.
“We feel good about how all the guys are throwing and what they bring to the table,’’ Boone said. “We’re sending a guy out there capable of holding the other team down and giving us an opportunity to win.”
Schlittler and Will Warren — who started Sunday against the A’s — have done that as well as anyone, with the Yankees 9-3 in Schlittler’s 12 outings and 10-2 when Warren pitches.
The Yankees are a combined 6-8 when Fried and Rodón have taken the mound, but that seems destined to change.
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Ryan McMahon finally hit a bit at the end of the road trip, homering in consecutive games at the Royals and A’s then picking up two more hits on Saturday in California, but the third baseman no doubt is happy to be back in The Bronx.
Even with his recent outburst, McMahon has the third-worst road OPS among qualified hitters (.472) and Austin Wells and Trent Grisham are also in the bottom 12 in the majors.
Not surprisingly, all three are lefty swingers, acquired by the Yankees in part because they hit from that side of the plate.
Their best left-handed hitter, Rice, has no problems hitting away from Yankee Stadium, with a 1.055 OPS.
And Cody Bellinger, another slugger imported to take advantage of the short porch in right, enters Tuesday with an MLB-best 1.209 OPS at home.
Another beneficiary of Anthony Volpe sticking with the Yankees as the shortstop on a regular basis — at least for now — is George Lombard Jr.
The Yankees top prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, has started at short every game at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since Volpe got back to The Bronx.
Lombard, who turns 21 on Tuesday, had been playing second and third base with Volpe on the roster.
He’s also homered twice in his last five games after not going deep in his first 23 games with SWB following his promotion from Double-A Somerset, as the 2023 first-round pick has gotten off to a slow start at the new level.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
