J.A. Happ has been a much-needed addition to the Yankees rotation, but they might be missing one of the pieces they sent to Toronto for the lefty.
Outfielder Billy McKinney has gotten off to a fast start for the Blue Jays, punctuated by his first career home run in Tuesday’s 8-2 win over the Orioles. McKinney got the standard silent treatment from his new teammates.
“That was awesome. That was pretty cool,” McKinney, who is 5-for-11 in four games with Toronto, said after the game. “Everybody on the team has been great to me so far and I thought it was pretty funny. It caught me by surprise, that’s for sure, so I tried to roll with it as much as I could.”
McKinney, who was struggling at Triple-A for the Yankees, and Brandon Drury were traded to the Blue Jays on July 26 for Happ. That very night, Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch and suffered a minor fracture in his wrist that has sidelined him since. The replacements in the outfield — namely Shane Robinson — have failed to provide any offense in Judge’s absence.
The Yankees initially acquired McKinney two years ago in the trade with the Cubs that also brought them Gleyber Torres.
Happ is 4-0 in four starts for the Yankees with a 2.22 ERA.
