Mark Leiter Jr. was meant to be the agent of change.
He was supposed to bolster the Yankees' relief corps late in games.
He was supposed to build a stronger bridge with closer Clay Holmes.
So far, that hasn't happened yet.
The former Cubs right-hander didn't perform well with the Yankees, posting an astounding 6.35 ERA.
He allowed 18 hits in 11 1/3 innings.
And Rieter has held opponents scoreless just seven times in 13 appearances. He did not play in Friday's 6-3 series-opening win over the Cardinals in the Bronx.
“I feel like I'm in good form and pitching most of the time. It's a sport called baseball,” Reiter told The Post before the game. “Sometimes it evens out. You can go nine games in a row without a hit, you can have a day where you're not hitting well. I try not to get carried away. I try to remember I'm going to play 162 games. I try not to get caught up in trends from week to week. It's a sport of adjustments, and I'm always trying to make adjustments.”
He added: “You look at each game and you're doing better than the numbers show. You've got games where you give up two home runs. I think I did it once last year, but it's just part of the game. I just happened to do it when I was with a new team. If I'd done that in Chicago right before I got traded, nobody would have thought about it.”
It's still not the start the 33-year-old Reiter would have liked, but he doesn't feel much different than when he was with the Cubs.
He had been performing very well for the team prior to his July 30 signing, going seven straight games without a point.
As Reiter said, some bad pitching hurt his performance with the Yankees, but he still struck out batters — 16 in 11 1/3 innings.
The biggest change is that Leiter is allowing more extra-base hits, including four home runs, compared to just two in 36 1/3 innings with the Cubs.
“Sometimes you get hit with a good pitch. That's how it is,” he said. “You don't want to overreact. Your job is to help win games. It's a long season and at the end of the season you're measured by how well you do. … I've been in pretty good counts and the games where I've been able to strike out three out of four batters are the games where I've given up home runs.”
Recently, Leiter has been used earlier in the game.
He pitched in the fourth inning of last Saturday's heartbreaking loss to the Rockies, but pitched in the seventh in Monday's win over the Nationals.
“I think he's feeling pretty good. Obviously when you come to a new team you want to do well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I don't think he's afraid. He wants the ball and he's pitched well. He's just had some games where he struggled.”
“What's really important is whether he can throw the ball in good places, especially the sinker, which is not a dominant pitch for him, but it's an important pitch to set up the splitter and other secondary pitches.”
