DUNEDIN, Fla.— Another day, another short outing through a Yankees appetizer.
Corey Kluber held just four innings in Wednesday’s 5-4 defeat to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.
He allowed three runs – and two homers – and he needed 77 spots to get through the outing.
While Kluber and manager Aaron Boone still sound encouraged by the performance of the right hand, his early retirement forced the Yankees to go to Jonathan Loaisiga to start fifth and need more length from an already charged pen.
“I thought she was pretty good,” Boone said of the 35-year-old Kluber, who signed a $ 11 million year after missing a broken forearm and a shoulder sprain over the past two seasons. “I feel like he’s still getting close to where he needs to be.”
He started just 10 innings over three times and walked seven.
Kluber calls the outing a step in the right direction. ‘
“I’m almost as frustrated as everyone with the results on the scoreboard, but I can see that things are going in the right direction,” Kluber said.
The veteran said she “things are getting better, the place is improving and the amount of misses in the course of a match is getting less and less. The mistakes I make I pay. I do not expect to get away with them. ”
He allowed several forwards in each innings before being removed before the fifth.
“You can only pitch as long as they allow you,” Kluber said.
Asked if he makes a case to stay after the fourth in the game, Kluber said: ‘I do not feel this is my position. I felt like my job is to throw for as long as you can and if they go to the pen, that’s the end of it. I do not feel it is my position to argue. ”
More efficiency will help, as a first innings of 23 places puts Kluber in a bad place.
“I think Corey, at best, is movement and precision,” Boone said. “He must overcome the last bump.”
After the game, the Yankees select the reliever Albert Abreu to the alternative yard.
“We are doing well,” Boone said, pointing to the extra days in April that help protect them.
“The whole bullpen played a role and we trusted guys just as much to share the burden,” Boone said. “But if you go on later in the month and May and summer, you have to lean on your starting pitchers to get deeper into the games.”
Kluber said he does not think the beginners are putting pressure on themselves to give the rotation, which only Gerrit Cole provided, long.
“I do not feel it,” Kluber said. ‘Most guys are two turns through the turn – some guys three [times]. I think there is no sense of pressure. ”