ST. PETERSBURG Fla. — It’s back to the varsity schedule for the Yankees starting Monday night.
After stinking against the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles to start the season, the Yankees got healthy on the Rays this past weekend at Tropicana Field where Sunday’s 5-3 victory completed a three-game sweep in front of 21,791 and got the Yankees even at 6-6.
As they filed out of the clubhouse, the Yankees were on the way to Detroit for a four-game series that opens Monday night at Comerica Park against the best team in baseball.
“They have a great team, forget the record,’’ Chase Headley said of the 10-2 Tigers. “There is a lot of talent and great players. We have to play the way we played this series.’’
That means error-free which the Yankees were in the three games against the offensively challenged Rays. That means continued solid relief outings, like those that came from Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller on Sunday when they combined to get the final eight outs and Miller his fourth save. That means timely hitting which the Yankees produced in the series by going 7-for-21 (.333) with runners in scoring position to go with a homer and 13 RBIs.
“It feels good getting contributions up and down the lineup,’’ said manager Joe Girardi, who Sunday watched Mark Teixeira and Headley drive in two runs each, Garrett Jones collect three hits, including a fourth-inning triple, and Alex Rodriguez go 1-for-3, walk twice and score once.
The lineup and late-game relief work was needed because Michael Pineda wasn’t sharp in his third start of the season, giving up three runs and seven hits in 5 ²/₃ innings.
“I thought he had to fight through it today,’’ Girardi said of the right-hander who left with two outs in the sixth having thrown 92 pitches. “The slider wasn’t very good. For whatever reason he wasn’t sharp.’’
Chris Martin got the final out of the sixth, Justin Wilson the first in the seventh with a runner on and Betances the final two to keep the 5-3 lead intact. Betances allowed a one-out walk in the eighth before catching Allan Dykstra looking at a 85 mph curveball for a strikeout and getting Brandon Guyer on an infield pop to end the inning.
Miller surrendered a leadoff double to Ryan Brett starting the ninth but used a filthy slider to strike out the final three batters for his fourth save in as many chances.
“With a two-run lead I don’t have to be quite so fine,’’ said Miller, who hasn’t been anointed the closer by Girardi but has thrived in the ninth inning. “I’m glad I kept him in the ballpark. It’s not the way to start my inning off.’’
When the Yankees pulled into Florida Friday they were 3-6 and had dropped three-game sets to the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles. They had committed 11 errors, Masahiro Tanaka and Pineda weren’t sharp and Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann weren’t hitting and Brett Gardner was hurt.
Three wins against the Rays doesn’t mean the Yankees have completely turned it around. The Tigers won’t have Justin Verlander for any of the four games but Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Yoenis Cespedes provide a much more difficult meat of the order than what the Rays served.
“It’s a big series for us,’’ said Jones, who went 3-for-4 in his third start of the year. “We have to score runs and take the pressure off our pitchers.’’
Nineteen runs in three games certainly provides the pitchers a comfort zone but comparing the Rays and Tigers is akin to putting the J.V. and varsity next to each other.
