HOUSTON — Joe Girardi picked up the phone in the Yankees’ dugout and called for the closer.
For so many years, whoever was in the dugout said, “Get Mo up.’’ Now, with the great Mariano Rivera retired, Girardi instructed bullpen coach Gary Tuck to inform David Robertson his time had arrived.
“It’s different when you call,” Girardi said. “The Yankees’ manager has been calling down a long time asking for Mo.’’
Not anymore. Now the manager wants Robertson, who served so well as Rivera’s setup man a year ago but still has to prove he can get the final three outs of a game.
Thursday night against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, Robertson passed his first test easily as he worked a perfect ninth to secure a 4-2 win in front of 26,348.
It was Robertson’s ninth major league save, but the one that allowed the Yankees to fly to Canada for Masahiro Tanaka’s anticipated debut against the Blue Jays 1-2 instead of 0-3 had a different feel to it.
“I am sure it meant a lot to him. It’s not his first save, but it’s his first save without Mo,’’ Girardi said of Robertson, who was handed the ball by Mark Teixeira following the final out, a grounder back to the mound hit by Jonathan Villar.
Robertson entered the game and recorded a loud out on a fly ball to center by Matt Dominguez. Then it was a strikeout of Alex Presley in front of Villar’s anemic grounder.
“I am just happy to get the first win under our belt,’’ said Robertson, who didn’t work in the first two losses against the Astros. “I just tried to throw strikes. Having a two-run lead was nice.’’
While Robertson was the natural choice to replace Rivera, the bigger question was who was going to fill the hole in the eighth abandoned by Robertson?
Shawn Kelley, a right-hander with a put-away slider, worked a perfect eighth inning. He struck out Chris Carter and Marc Krauss to end the inning after third baseman Yangervis Solarte gloved Jose Altuve’s liner leading off the inning.
“He understands the role change,’’ Robertson said of Kelley, who emerged as the seventh-inning hurler a year ago. “I told him he has the stuff and to do the same thing he did last year and pass it along to the next guy.’’
Girardi shuffled the lineup and it paid dividends. Playing for the first time in three games, Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4 and scored twice. Solarte got his first major league start and was 3-for-3 and scored two runs. He benefitted when the Astros’ infield allowed a pop to drop between the mound and home plate for an RBI single in the seventh that extended the Yankees’ lead to 4-2.
Derek Jeter, who remained in the second spot, went 1-for-3 and drove in a run.
Limited to one pitch — a sinking fastball — because his curve never arrived, Ivan Nova battled control problems through 5 2/3 but posted the win thanks to the four double-play ground balls he induced.
“To be able to pitch into the sixth with one pitch is a good sign,’’ said Nova, who allowed six hits, two runs, walked five and hit two.
Yet the best thing for the Yankees was that Robertson’s first save chance went as smooth as so many of Rivera’s did.
“I didn’t make it too dramatic so that makes it better,’’ Robertson said.