HOUSTON — Marcus Stroman admitted he didn’t get much sleep or eat much ahead of his Yankees debut Saturday night.
“I’m very excited,” Stroman said. “It’s a mass of anxiety.”
But that did little to keep the right-handed pitcher out of the game.
Stroman pitched six innings and allowed only three earned runs as the Yankees defeated the Astros 5-3 at Minute Maid Park.
He gave the Yankees exactly what they needed on a night when they were short in the bullpen.
“It was good to go out there and get the win and get the job done,” Stroman said. “There was definitely a lot of work put into it and a lot of excitement, so now it’s just a matter of getting through it, getting back to the routine and staying on track here.”
All three runs the Astros allowed from Stroman were due to errors, including a play in the fifth inning in which Anthony Volpe and Stroman each made a throwing error and allowed a run.
But Stroman didn’t let the defensive chaos turn into an even bigger mess.
“I thought he was very sharp,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re probably going to see some plays come out of him getting six shutouts and maybe he’ll get even deeper into the game. I thought he made a good point.”
A day after hurting his right thumb on a 93 mph fastball, Gleyber Torres returned to action on Saturday, going 4-for-4 with one hit and one walk. Torres took to the field to play catch early Saturday afternoon, but he withdrew from Friday’s game in the seventh inning due to concerns about his ability to throw.
Clayton Beater made his MLB debut on Friday night, throwing three pitches and getting three outs, but he returned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday.
The Yankees designated Beater to Triple-A before Saturday’s game and called up left-hander Tanner Talley to give him more time in the bullpen. Even though Beater, normally a starter, threw just three pitches to close out Friday’s win, the Yankees didn’t want to take any chances by having the 25-year-old pitch on consecutive days this early. .
“Really, I’m just skinny.” [in the bullpen] And he’s a starting pitcher, some of that. [injury] We just don’t want to put him in a bad situation if something happens where historically we have to do something early and we’re really thin and we don’t have any real length,” Boone said. Told. “The reality is — and he felt good today — we could probably just throw him out there. But if you’re not built for it, that worries me.”
Beater will continue to develop in Triple-A and “hopefully get back here sooner rather than later,” Boone said.
“We’re really excited for him,” Boone said. “I know he’s going to help us a lot this year.”
Beater, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, had a large group of family and friends in attendance Friday night to witness his debut, however brief.
To make room for Talley on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated reliever Nick Ramirez for assignment.
Giancarlo Stanton was sidelined Saturday, but Boone said he was healthy. Aaron Judge started at DH and Trent Grisham made his first start of the year in center field.
