ARLINGTON – Considering four of the previous five games the Yankee bullpen performed very well and had been a strength the first six weeks, it was a surprise to see the relievers get spanked Friday night by the Rangers.
When Mike Mussina left in the eighth inning with a runner on and the Yankees leading, 8-1, Mariano Rivera entering the game in the same frame was the last thing you expected.
Yet, thanks to ineffective work by Aaron Small for the second straight game and Kyle Farnsworth, Joe Torre went to his closer with two outs. Shockingly, Rivera gave up back-to-back singles that drove in three runs to make it an 8-7 game.
Rivera got out of the eighth and recorded the final three outs in the ninth, with help from a fine fielding play from Derek Jeter, to notch his sixth save but wasn’t celebrating.
“It’s tough, you don’t want to see the bullpen go through that,” Rivera said.
“You want your guys to do their jobs.” While the Yankees won their third straight, needing Rivera to throw 36 pitches (second-highest total of the year) likely took him out of the mix for last night’s tilt.
“You know everybody isn’t going to be good every night,” Torre said of the bullpen.
In his second outing since coming off the DL (hamstring injury), Small worked one-third of an inning and gave up three hits and three runs.
Farnsworth, who had been dominating in his previous seven appearances, notched a big strikeout when he fanned Mark Teixeira but walked Phil Nevin to give Rivera a bases-loaded mess. Farnsworth was charged with two runs in his one-third inning stint. Rivera, who allowed all three inherited runners to score, gave up three hits.
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Carl Pavano’s 30-day rehab assignment starts today when he pitches for Tampa (Single-A) in a Florida State League. Pavano worked five innings this past week in the extended spring program that doesn’t count on the rehab clock.
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After delivering a rallystarting pinch-hit Thursday night in St. Petersburg, Gary Sheffield returned to lineup Friday night for the first time since last Saturday when he bruised his left hand and wrist. Sheffield went 0-for-5.
RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-1; 4.89) draws RHP Robinson Tejada (1-0; 3.60) today.
