Jonathan Loaisiga

New York Yankees Injury Updates: Severino, Betances, German, and More

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New York Yankees, Luis Severino

As the season progresses, the New York Yankees players are finally coming off the injured list. Key players Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks have already made their return. Bomber’s sluggers Giancarlo Stanton is returning Tuesday against the Rays and Aaron Judge is expected to return later this week.

As the injury bug seems to be disappearing, there are Yankees players that are still suffering:

Luis Severino

Yankees’ ace Luis Severino (lat) will not return until after the All-Star break. However, Severino is expected to start throwing from a mound next week.

Dellin Betances

Dellin Betances (shoulder) has said that he is still dealing with discomfort and is not sure when he will resume throwing. It would not be a surprise if Yankee fans see Betances make his return after the All-Star break as well.

Domingo German

Domingo German (hip) was making a huge impact on the Yankees’ so-far successful season holding a 9-2 record when he suffered his injury. German said his hip has been improving and is becoming more mobile. He began throwing on flat ground, however, there is no timetable for his return yet.

Troy Tulowitzki

Troy Tulowitzki (calf) was making progress when he suffered another setback. Tulowitzki was pulled from his rehab game in high-A Tampa a few weeks ago and there have been no updates since. Manager Aaron Boone met with media today and said that he has nothing to say on Tulowitzki’s progress.

Ben Heller, Greg Bird, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Jacoby Ellsbury

These four Yankees will not see the field for some time. Big Yankee names Bird (foot) and Ellsbury (foot) are expected to not return until early to mid-August.

New York Yankees: Aaron Hicks Activated, Loaisiga To The IL

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New York Yankees, Aaron Hicks

Prior to Monday evening’s scheduled game against the Baltimore Orioles (weather dependent), the New York Yankees announced a series of roster movements. Aaron Hicks was activated from the IL, and Mike Tauchman was sent to AAA. Additionally, Jonathan Loaisiga was placed on the IL, and Chance Adams was recalled from AAA.

Healthy Hicks

Aaron Hicks is healthy and ready to go on Monday. He is batting leadoff and playing center. Hicks picked up three hits, including a home run in his final rehab game on Saturday for Scranton. He was scheduled to play Sunday as well, however that game was rained out.

As expected, Mike Tauchman was sent to AAA as the corresponding move for Hicks. Tauchman, bat .213 over 89 at-bats for the Yankees. He drove in 12 runs and went yard four times. Tauchman also drove in the Yankees first run in the team’s 7-1 victory over the Rays on Sunday with a double off the wall in center. He now joins the likes of Tyler Wade, Mike Ford, and Nestor Cortes Jr. as recent travelers on the “Scranton Shuttle”

Down goes Loaisiga

Jonathan Loaisiga was expected to pitch on Monday against the Orioles, but was placed on the 10-day IL with a shoulder strain. Instead, Luis Cessa will “start” Monday, and team called up Chance Adams and is in the bullpen. I quote the word “start” because it may be possible the Yankees are doing a bullpen game.

Hopefully, they don’t have to deal with this for very long and Paxton can be back soon. He resumed baseball activities just days after he was injured, so hopefully he can be on the mound again soon.

New York Yankees: Tyler Wade Sent Down To Make Room For Loaisiga

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After Tuesday’s 5-4 walk-off win over the Seattle Mariners, the New York Yankees made a few roster moves. The team sent down Tyler Wade to make room for Jonathan Loaisiga.

ESPN’s Coley Harvey reported that Loaisiga was in the clubhouse on Tuesday, and is expected to pitch on Wednesday.

Wade still can’t hit MLB pitching

Tyler Wade has shown time and time again that he cannot hit MLB pitching. The Yankees front office certainly thinks he can, and he spends time up even when there aren’t any injuries. That shows the Yankees “faith” in him.

This year has been a slight improvement from past years, but certainly nothing to boast about. He’s batting .204, his best year of three in the MLB (.155 in 2017, .167 in 2018).

He can’t show enough consistency at the plate to get constant playing time and a spot on the MLB roster. His baserunning and defense is sure valuable, but it isn’t enough for him to keep a spot on the roster.

A reminder why Loaisiga is up

Jonathan Loaisiga is coming up to replace the injured James Paxton, and will start on Wednesday against the Mariners. Paxton is on the IL with knee inflammation.

Loaisiga, has an ERA of 2.70 in three Yankee appearances this season (two starts). In two games started for the Railriders (AAA), he has actually pitched worse then in the bigs. His ERA is at 7.20 through 10 innings.

Despite struggling at AAA, Loaisiga will be coming up fully rested. He was expected to start on Sunday against the Syracuse Mets, but was scratched after Paxton’s injury.

The hope is that Loaisiga will only be needed for two or three starts before Paxton is ready again.

But for the meantime, the roster carousel continues as more and more Yankees hit the IL and different players are needed for different places. The Yankees need to just keep grinding along and do the best they can. 21-14 ain’t too shabby, that’s for sure.

New York Yankees: DJ LeMahieu Leads Five-Run Comeback Over Angels

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New York Yankees, DJ LeMahieu

DJ LeMahieu had two hits and three RBIs to help dig the New York Yankees out of a five run deficit to beat the Angels 6-5.  The Yankees have now won six consecutive games.

DJ saves the day

Tyler Wade led the sixth inning off with an infield single, and scored the next pitch off a double by LeMahieu. LeMahieu scored a few batters later on a passed ball by Angels’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy.

In the seventh, Wade drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run. LeMahieu hit a sacrifice fly and Luke Voit hit a fielder’s choice, each scoring a run to tie it up.

After two outs to start the ninth, Wade singled to start a rally. With LeMahieu up, Wade stole second before he was knocked in to go ahead.

Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless bottom of the inning as the Yankees held on for the win.

Luke Voit extended his on-base streak with a walk in the first, now at 35 games. He also had a hit to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Three away from 3K

CC Sabathia struggled a bit in his third start of the season, but his three strikeouts put him three away from 3,000 on his career.

CC allowed five runs (four earned) in five innings, giving up six hits and three home runs. He got 14 first pitch strikes to 22 batters. Sabathia had trouble keeping it on the ground, getting eight fly-balls to just five ground-balls.

Jonathan Loaisiga finally got some work in, however it was out of the bullpen. He was originally expected to start one of the Anaheim games.

The righty pitched three innings in relief, allowed two hits and picked up the win. He walked one and struck out one. Loaisiga was also optioned to AAA following the game.

Game four of the series takes place on Thursday at 9:07PM (ET) on YES and Fox Sports Go. Masahiro Tanaka gets the ball for the Yankees against Trevor Cahill of the Angels.

Gio Urshela Leads New York Yankees Past Angels in 14 Innings

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New York Yankees, Gio Urshela

Giovanny Urshela had an RBI single in the 14th inning, as the New York Yankees took down the Angels 4-3.

Five lame hits

Despite 14 innings of play, the Yankees only managed to squeak out five hits.

Luke Voit got it going his first time up, belting a 2-2 slider to right-center for a solo home run.  Gleyber Torres had a sacrifice fly in the third to drive in a run to tie it at two. The Angels got two runs in the second off a two-run bomb from catcher Jonathan Lucroy.

It would seemingly stay 2-2 forever.

Urshela had a sacrifice fly in the 12th, and the Angels got a run off of Chapman in the bottom of the inning for his first blown save of the year. Come the fourteenth, Urshela knocked in another run; this one a hit that would win the game.

Urshela ended up with two hits on the night to go along with the hit from Voit, a hit from Higashioka, and a hit from Frazier.

The struggling Jonathan Holder finally got it going in the right direction, pitching a scoreless 13th and 14th en route to a win.

About time it HAPPened

After a rough start to the season, JA Happ settled in and gave the Yankees seven strong innings. He gave up three hits, and his only mistake was a slider that found the seats for Lucroy of the Angels for two runs.

Happ walked two and struck out five. He only threw first pitch strikes to 11 of the 25 batters he faced, which isn’t great. He should have more success if he throws more first pitch strikes.

Happ had a decent start last time out against the Red Sox, with Austin Romine catching. Maybe Happ will continue to have success without Sanchez catching him, and it may be in the Yankees best interest to DH or sit Sanchez on days that Happ pitches. Sanchez is still expected to be activated on Wednesday.

Game two of this four game set begins Tuesday at 10:05PM (ET). Jonathan Loaisiga is expected to come up from AAA to make a start to give the rotation an extra day of rest, and Joe Harvey is being sent down. Chris Stratton gets the ball for the Angels.

New York Yankees: Chad Green Struggles as The Yankees Lose 6-3

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New York Yankees reliever Chad Green gave up three runs in the eighth inning as the Yankees lost to the Astros 6-3. The sad part is that they led 3-2, blowing their second lead in as many days.

Bullpen struggles

In five pitched innings on Tuesday, the Yankee bullpen gave up three runs off seven hits. Jonathan Loaisiga only pitched three innings, giving up two runs. He was removed due to throwing 71 pitches in the three innings.

Steven Tarpley relieved Loaisiga and gave up a hit, but threw just nine pitches in the scoreless inning. Luis Cessa got five outs without a score, before the ball was turned over to Jonathan Holder.

With the Yankees up 3-2, Holder gave up a double to new Astro Michael Brantley before being pulled. After, Chad Green came in and got hammered in the eighth, giving up three runs and the Astros took a 6-3 lead.

Again, the Yankees couldn’t recover and went down 1-2-3 in the ninth

Sanchez keeps cookin’

Gary Sanchez kept up his strong play on Tuesday, going 2-for-4 and knocking in two runs on a sixth inning double to put the Yankees up 3-2. His other hit was a single that beat the shift, as the Astros placed three men on the left side.

Luke Voit was responsible for the other run, mashing a solo home run to center field in the first. That was his only hit in four at-bats.

Aaron Judge and Austin Romine were each responsible for a base hit.

Red hot Clint Frazier went hitless on Tuesday night. Not just that, he had a few problems in the field. He dropped a ball on a diving catch attempt, then misplayed a ball a little later.

Brett Gardner also went hitless on Tuesday including being doubled up on a bunt attempt that he didn’t run out. This killed a rally with runners on first and second early in the game.

The Yankees try to salvage the series with the Astros on Wednesday before returning home. Gametime is at 7:40PM (ET) on YES Network and FOX Sports Go. James Paxton gets the ball for the Yankees against Collin McHugh of the Astros.

 

New York Yankees: Dellin Betances to Start Season on Injured List

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During Tuesday’s spring training game on the YES Network, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman announced in an interview that hard-throwing relief pitcher Dellin Betances will start the 2019 season on the injured list. Cashman said that in an MRI, he showed to have shoulder inflammation and the team is calling it a “shoulder impingement.” The team expects Betances to be throwing again “in 3 to 5 days.”

Betances had not been himself during spring training. He had an ERA of 5.40 in just four outings, and the team was concerned about his velocity. His fastball was only reaching 88 to 92 mph, much lower than his 96 to 100 mph average. He has had issues with getting off to a fast start, literally. His ERA is always a bit higher in the early part of the season, and way high in spring training with his strikeout rate lower.

More Injuries

This now leads to even more early season injury concerns from the Yankees. Though he is the only bullpen guy out right now, the Yankees are down two starters in CC Sabathia and Luis Severino. Aaron Hicks will not be ready until at least the second series of the season, Didi Gregorius is out until summer because of his Tommy John surgery, and who knows about Jacoby Ellsbury.

Like last year, the Yankees will need to have a “next man up” mentality to fill these roster spots. Young guys will be stepping up and providing a lot to start the season, especially on the pitching staff. Those pitchers may be Jonathan Loaisiga, Domingo German, Stephen Tarpley, and Luis Cessa.