On Wednesday night, the Yankees finally got a big win when Masahiro Tanaka went the distance on a 4 hit shutout. I mentioned yesterday that Thursday’s contest was going to feature two guys making their Major League debuts, and the game would either end 1-0 or 12-11. Welp, we got ourselves a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel, and the Yankees indeed won 1-0 with their second straight shutout of the Mets. Always listen to Jobu. It is clear that I’m a genius.

The two guys making their Major League debuts were Chase Whitely for the Yankees and Jacob deGrom for the Mets. The two pitched incredibly well. Whitley pitched so well, in fact, that he got a hit before he allowed a hit, which is always a good sign. I thought it was a bit of a shame that Joe Girardi pulled him after 4.2 shutout innings and with just 78 pitchers on his resume for the day, but it was the right decision in the end–More on that in a bit though. Let’s talk more about Chase. Whitley featured a decent fastball that averaged 92.3 mph and topped out at 94.4 mph^a, a good changeup and a solid slider as well. In all, Whitley generated 10 swings and misses and mostly kept the Mets off the bases, only allowing 2 hits and the 2 walks in the bottom of the fifth that eventually led to his removal. Great first impression.

The real “wow” of the game was Dellin Betances. This kid is getting more and more confident as he gets into more games, and it’s obvious from the results. Betances came in with 2nd and 3rd and two out in the bottom of that fifth inning and coaxed a ground ball out of Eric Young, Jr to end the threat. He then struck out the following guys in a row: Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Chris Young, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada. Yep. Six strikeouts in a row. When you have upper 90s heat and a devastating curve/slurve/knuckle curve, that’s going to happen. Betances now has 39 Ks in just 22.1 innings in his first full year as a Major Leaguer. This bullpen might be OK afterall.

Betances ended up getting the win in this game, becasue of a bit 2-out gap double by Alfonso Soriano in the top of the 7th. That double spoiled an otherwise amazing outing by deGrom, who ended up pitching 7 innings and allowing only that one run on 4 hits and 2 walks. Adam Warren got two outs (both strikeouts) in the 8th, but an annoying slap single chased him in favor of David Robertson, who cleaned up the 8th by getting David Wright to ground out and then pitching a scoreless ninth with 2 strike outs. In all, the Yankees bullpen pitched 4.1 innings and struck out 10 Mets. That’s the type of power bullpen we’re going to need moving forward.

Up next, the Yankees will take on the Pirates, if the rain holds off somehow.

Featured image courtesy of: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger

1. http://riveraveblues.com/2014/05/yanks-hang-on-for-1-0-win-over-mets-in-whitleys-first-start-103515/  (back)