Yankees catcher Brian McCann had seen it all before. But this time, he really enjoyed the view.
That’s because this time, McCann watched Chris Capuano work to him, as opposed to against him. As a hitter with the Braves, McCann all too often saw Capuano changing speeds, darting fastballs, working the corners, mixing pitches, getting ahead. Catching those pitches this time was so much more enjoyable.
“I’ve seen him do that in person many times. But I was on the other side of it so,” McCann said of Capuano. “He’s a pitcher. When he finds his release point and he gets that changeup working and he’s able to locate that fastball in, he’s tough to hit.”
Capuano made the Tigers looked even more anemic than they have of late but wound up with a no-decision, his second in three starts as a Yankee. Capuano went pitch-for-pitch with Justin Verlander, the third straight Tiger Cy Young Award winner the Yankees faced. Verlander gave up two runs and took the loss in the 5-1 Yankees victory.
The only run, unearned, Capuano yielded was built on a first-inning error by Derek Jeter and a wild pitch. After Miguel Cabrera’s sacrifice fly, Capuano breezed until the seventh.
“It was getting ahead in the count and mixing up my breaking ball with my changeup and doing enough with my fastball to keep them honest,” said Capuano, the escapee from Boston and Colorado who joined the Yankees July 24.
Capuano credited McCann for calling “a great game” — and for slugging the second homer off Verlander that proved decisive.
Capuano was perfect in the fourth and sixth innings — as a fine great catch by Jacoby Ellsbury at the wall in center ended the sixth.
“I thought it was going to get out,” Capuano said of the drive by J.D. Martinez. “To watch Ells come down with it was just exhilarating.”
Two of the five hits the Tigers managed against the 35-year-old lefty came from light-hitting shortstop Andrew Romine and another was a bunt single.
Capuano struck out eight and exited with a first-and-third situation in the seventh, a jam winner Adam Warren escaped.
“I have seen him do this before. That’s one of the reasons we went and got him,” manager Joe Girardi said of Capuano. “He does know how to pitch and he gave us a great performance. … He knows how to change speeds and move the ball in and out. He used his curveball and changeup extremely well.”
If you don’t believe him, just ask McCann. Or the Tigers.