Masahiro Tanaka’s one-man show may be the most exciting performance in town, but rookie Chase Whitley hasn’t found the Yankees ace a tough act to follow.
Since debuting on May 15, Whitley has followed the more high-profile rookie in each of his seven starts, and in that time, he has led the Yankees to as many wins (six) as the Japanese sensation has, while allowing a total of 11 runs, compared to Tanaka’s 10.
The comparisons just about end there, but Whitley’s unexpected success has been nearly as vital to the team’s ascension in the standings. The Alabama native came through again Wednesday night, doing just enough to keep the Blue Jays’ explosive offense quiet in the Yankees’ 7-3 win.
Whitley (3-0, 2.56 ERA) threw five innings, allowing two runs and five hits, while striking out two. After earning a win in his third straight start, Whitley joined Tanaka as the only pitchers in Yankees history to begin their major league careers with seven consecutive games without a loss.
“To be able to navigate through without my best command, that’s a testament of growing up a little bit,” said Whitley, who was making only his second career start at Yankee Stadium. “This is one of the first times I’ve had to bear down and battle without my best stuff. … Whatever it is in life, adversity is where you grow up. To come out of that successful still and us get the win, it’s great.”
The former reliever used his deceptively effective slider to cruise through the first three innings, before surrendering two runs on three Toronto singles and a hit batsman in the fourth inning to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.
When the Yankees took the lead back in the bottom of the inning, Whitley pitched one more scoreless inning, despite allowing his first walk in 33 innings and 134 batters. This season, Whitley has registered 26 strikeouts and only four walks.
“Today’s one of the first days my mechanics got away from me a couple times and the game sped up a little bit, but that’s something I’ve got to take a deep breath because that can’t happen,” Whitley said. “Anytime you’re doing something new, there’s always nerves, but once you get adjusted to it, you can calm down a little bit. That’s everything in life. You start a new job, that’s how it is.”
Whitley’s night was done after a career-high 95 pitches, and a performance that no one will be telling their grandkids about.
But every outing can’t be art. After all, a pitcher has only one objective — to get the win, and Whitley has helped produce more of those than anyone could have expected.
“[Now], we expect him to go out and pitch well, where we weren’t really sure what we were going to get when he came up because we had never seen him as a starter,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Our expectations have changed a lot.”