DETROIT – Two starts have not produced enough data to know if Darrell Rasner can apply a tourniquet to the hemorrhaging back end of the Yankees rotation where Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Kei Igawa have failed. Or if he is the second coming of Aaron Small.
After all, Rasner was dropped from the roster last fall, never in contention for a rotation spot this spring, opened the season at Triple-A and will be hard pressed to match Small’s perfection of three seasons ago.
What we do know is this: Rasner is the anti-Igawa. And that scores big points in the Yankees clubhouse where players shook their heads when they heard Igawa say he wasn’t disappointed in his putrid outing Friday night.
Working one game after Igawa delivered a performance everybody but he believed to be awful (but hasn’t yet cost him a start Wednesday), Rasner helped the Yankees to a 5-2 victory yesterday over the Tigers in front of 44,580 at a sold-out Comerica Park.
“You have to know your limitations and I know mine,” the 27-year-old right-hander with a fastball in the high 80s, low 90s but a strong will to compete and the ability to change speeds. “I am not going to throw 95 mph. I am not going to strike out a lot of guys, so I can’t walk guys.”
Rasner (2-0) went six-plus innings, gave up two runs, four hits walked one and fanned one. Kyle Farnsworth, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera closed out the victory that evened the Yankees’ ledger at 19-19 and was the first in five tries against the Tigers.
“He reminds me of Jon Lieber,” Jeter said of Rasner. “He works quick and throws strikes. He is fun to play behind. It goes to show you how much you can do when you throw strikes.”
This was the latest example why the Tigers, the preseason choice by many to represent the AL in the World Series, are 16-22: they can’t hit right-handed pitching. They are a league-worst 11-21 against righties – batting .258 against them and .295 vs. lefties.
Jeter homered in the first – his first of the year – and singled and scored in the fifth.
Rivera recorded the final three outs for his 10th save.
After losing right-handed reliever Jonathan Albaladejo to the DL with an elbow problem Friday night, third baseman Wilson Betemit left in the fourth when he suffered a strained right hamstring jogging out a double to left and was immediately placed on the DL. Alberto Gonzalez was recalled from Triple-A to replace Betemit, who was activated from the DL Tuesday.
With Hughes (fractured rib) out until July, Kennedy making his second Triple-A start today, Igawa pitching poorly Friday night and the Yankees not wanting David Wells, Rasner’s spot in the rotation is secure.
“You continue to pitch well, you stay in the rotation,” Girardi said of Rasner, who left after giving up a leadoff single to Magglio Ordonez in the seventh and was replaced by Farnsworth. “He has figured out how to use his stuff and he has been great.”
Who knows where this leads. Right-handers who lack high-octane fastballs get spanked in the AL. Yet, at the moment Rasner has thrown the Yankees’ rotation a life jacket they have embraced.
“This is a great opportunity and I am doing my best to run with it,” he said.