One-third of his first season with the Yankees is complete and Brian McCann understands there is a lot of room for improvement at the plate.
“I feel like I need to get more hits,’’ McCann said after helping the Yankees to a 3-1 win over the Twins on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. “I am finding the barrel consistently but I need to start hitting better.’’
That was the case before Mark Teixeira’s right wrist barked loudly enough that he was removed in the sixth inning and received a cortisone shot following the victory.
With Carlos Beltran out with a bone spur in his right elbow and Teixeira’s wrist likely a season-long issue, McCann is the man in the middle of the lineup who will be relied on to produce runs for a team that has scored four in the last two games.
Saturday, he delivered an RBI double in the eighth off lefty Brian Duensing that snapped a 1-1 tie. Kelly Johnson added a run-scoring single that provided David Robertson with a two-run bulge to work the ninth.
“I got a slider out over the plate and put the barrel on it and hit it down the line,’’ said McCann, who went 2-for-4 with a sixth-inning double and killed a first-inning threat by banging into a 3-6-1 double play with the bases loaded.
McCann was on second in the sixth inning when Yangervis Solarte singled to right field. Playing it correctly, third-base coach Rob Thomson held up the heavy-legged catcher, but Solarte attempted to reach second when Oswaldo Arcia’s throw wasn’t cut off. Catcher Josmil Pinto fired to second and Solarte was the final out.
“Probably not,’’ McCann said when asked if he should have been sent home. “You see me run?’’
The Yankees didn’t pay McCann $85 million to run. That money was doled out for him to hit, something he did very well for Atlanta.
McCann’s two-hit day bumped his batting average from .225 to .232, but that’s well shy of his career .277 mark he posted in Atlanta. With seven homers, he is on pace to hit 21, one more than he hit in each of the past two seasons when he played in 102 and 121 games, respectively.
“I have to keep putting the barrel on the ball and eventually it will find holes,’’ McCann said.
Because of Teixeira’s wrist and Beltran’s elbow, the Yankees are down to McCann to carry the load in the middle of a lineup that doesn’t have much muscle left.