Pitcher Chase Whitley isn't headed back to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders this morning after all. Instead, the former Ranburne High School and Troy University standout is staying with the New York Yankees to take the spot of Masahiro Tanaka in the pitching rotation.
On Tuesday, the Yankees called up Whitley from the Triple-A International League for a spot start to take some pressure off a rotation taxed by New York's 12th game in 12 days during a stretch of 30 games in 31 days.
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While Whitley went five innings in his first MLB game of 2015 as the Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Tuesday night, New York general manager Brian Cashman was holding a press conference elsewhere at Yankee Stadium to announce Tanaka was going on the 15-day disabled list.
A wrist injury would be new for Tanaka, who's currently battling the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament he suffered last season.
Tanaka was scheduled to start Wednesday. Tanaka didn't appear in the clubhouse during pregame media availability. Nor did his PR man, Yoshiki Sato, or his translator, Shingo Horie.
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On Masahiro Tanaka Bobblehead Night, Whitley went the first five innings against the Rays, giving up one run on six hits and one walk to pick up the pitching victory. The right-hander struck out five.
The Yankees signed Tanaka to a seven-year, $155 million contract after he went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA for the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan in 2013. He missed part of the 2014 season because of an elbow injury and finished 13-5 with a 2.77 earned-run average in his MLB rookie year.
Whitley made his MLB debut last season with the Yankees after starting 2014 with seven outings in Triple-A. Whitley split his 24 appearances for New York last season between the bullpen and the rotation, going 4-3 with a 5.23 ERA. Whitley struck out 60 and walked 18 in 75.2 big-league innings.
Whitley was sent down at the end of spring training earlier this month. Whitley compiled a 1.17 earned-run average in 15.1 innings in seven spring-training games. He struck out 12 and walked three. On Tuesday night, Girardi said it had been hard to send Whitley back to the minors after his strong spring, but he appreciated the pitcher carrying the "right attitude" to his assignment.
Whitley made three starts for the RailRiders this season, compiling a 2-0 record with a 2.12 ERA. In 17 innings, he struck out 13 and walked six.
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