BALTIMORE — Ivan Nova thought his relief stint Saturday night in the Yankees’ 11-3 loss to the Orioles was “good.’’
Yet considering Joe Girardi is not going to insert the right-hander into the rotation — something the manager said he was going to do against the Twins this week — Nova’s outing wasn’t good enough.
“I thought he pitched OK. We are basically in rotation right now,’’ said Girardi, who explained David Phelps, whom Nova replaced in the third inning Saturday night, would start against the Twins on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Girardi’s original plan was to give his five starters an extra day of rest by using Nova as a sixth starter for one turn through the rotation because the Yankees are in a stretch of 20 games in 20 days.
After throwing 75 pitches in 5 2/3 innings, in which he gave up six hits and two runs, Nova’s next day to pitch would be Thursday. Girardi could have started him then and pushed Phelps to Friday against the Orioles at home, but elected not to. Part of that may have been because the Birds rocked Phelps for nine runs and nine hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Nova entered Saturday’s game with the Yankees trailing, 9-0, in the third, so his line could be misleading.
“I don’t necessarily look at the results. You look at how a guy throws and how he is competing. How he goes about his business,’’ Girardi said. “Games are different when they are 9-0, but there are different ways but you look at the quality of his stuff. The pressure should come from within, wanting to do well with the understanding that if you don’t do well at this level you probably aren’t going to stay at this level.’’
* Michael Pineda didn’t inspire confidence that he will be ready to join the big league staff when his minor league injury rehab assignment ends July 9 when yesterday he produced easily the worst of his four outings.
In three innings for Double-A Trenton against Binghamton, Pineda gave up four runs, four walks and four hits. Two of the hits were homers in a 5-4 Thunder loss. Pineda threw 62 pitches and just 32 for strikes.
“That’s not something we have really talked about,’’ Girardi said about Pineda joining the Yankees instead of being optioned to the minors in order to continue recovering from shoulder surgery that cost him all of last season. “I am sure if he can help us, we will bring him.’’
However, Girardi already has six potential starters on the staff, including Nova in the pen, so there isn’t room for Pineda in the rotation.
“I don’t envision him any other way right now,’’ Girardi said when asked if viewed Pineda as a starter.
* It was a tough night for catcher Chris Stewart in a sweep-clinching 4-2 loss. In the bottom of the first, he got hit in the head by Adam Jones’ follow-through swing on a pop to short. In the ninth, he took a Jim Johnson fastball in the left shoulder.
“Obviously, it felt like someone hit me in the head,” Stewart said. “My helmet took most of the blow, so not too much residual effect. I felt a little bruising sensation a couple innings after. It’s fine now.”
In the ninth, he became the tying run on base the hard way.
“The ball might be hurt, but I’m fine,” he said. “His ball doesn’t come in softly and he throws a heavy ball. I really had nowhere to go, and fortunately, it hit me in a good spot.”
* Because Single-A Tampa’s game was rained out after an inning, Eduardo Nunez got only one at-bat, which didn’t do much for him as he attempts to get healthy enough to help the Yankees. Nunez has been on the DL since May 5 with a strained left oblique.
“One inning at a time isn’t going to help us — it would take him a while to get up to nine,’’ Girardi said of the shortstop. “But he is doing better.’’
* Robinson Cano couldn’t have been happy about leaving Camden Yards. Two hits hiked his average at the hitter-friendly ballpark to .365 (109-for-299). Since Aug. 22, 2008, he is batting .426 (80-for-188) at the park. Cano went 7-for-13 this weekend.
—Additional reporting by Fred Kerber