The record is nothing new for A.J. Burnett, but the repertoire and resiliency surely are.
Since joining the Yankees, Burnett has had fast starts and frustrating finishes, and a maddening tendency to let little jams become big innings. He beat the Twins 4-3 yesterday, but more impressive than the result was how he earned it, gutting his way through trouble and having faith in himself and his new change-up.
“I thought he was really good. He was in some trouble a couple different innings and he managed to wiggle his way out of them, which is extremely important,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve talked about you have to be able to do that. You have to be able to manage innings. I thought he did a really good job of that.”
Burnett (2-0) scattered five hits over six innings, holding Minnesota to a pair of runs while walking two and striking out five. He didn’t nibble at the plate, and he trusted not only catcher Russell Martin’s calls, but also his own stuff, which had more downward movement.
“It’s all confidence, confidence that I’m going to make my pitch,” said Burnett. “It’s all about confidence and believing in my pitches. It helped me out big time. Not nit-picking, not trying to be perfect, but live in the moment one pitch at a time and just let it go. Like Mo [Rivera] and [Rafael Soriano], that closer mentality, dare them to hit it.
“[The change-up] is going to be a big pitch for me. . . . [Martin’s] got me believing. I told him I’m not gonna shake for it; if you put it down, I’ll throw it. It got some quick outs and mixing that with the fastball keeps them off balance.”
Burnett faced his sweaty-palm moment when his curveball deserted him in the fourth inning. He went in leading 1-0, but Justin Morneau and Jim Thome led off with consecutive doubles, the latter just missing a home run to dead center. Jason Kubel followed by hitting a change-up past Mark Teixeira for the third double of the inning, giving the Twins a 2-1 lead.
But Burnett went back to the change-up and induced a fly out from Danny Valencia and a groundout from Alexi Casillas.
“His best pitch was his change-up. When he fell behind in the count, he could throw it for strikes and got groundballs,” said Martin. “He kept battling. . . . I think it’s going to be a major pitch for him.”
