Gästeforum » inning role following Chapmans departure, earned hi

HOUSTON -- In its first test since star closer Aroldis Chapman was traded, the New York Yankees bullpen came through just fine.Austin Romine hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning to make a winner of Michael Pineda, and the Yankees held off the Houston Astros 2-1 on Monday night.Hours after New York shipped Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, All-Star relievers Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller closed out Houston to help the fourth-place Yankees (51-48) move three games above .500 for the first time this season.Youre not asking a young kid to maybe step into something that hes never done before, manager Joe Girardi said. We still have a lot of experience down there; the bridge becomes very important. Obviously we didnt need it tonight, but that becomes very important.Betances struck out the side in the eighth before Miller, back in the ninth-inning role following Chapmans departure, earned his eighth save. The fired-up lefty pumped his fist when he got Carlos Gomez to ground into a game-ending double play with two on.A frustrated Gomez spiked his helmet and kicked at the ground after he was out at first base.Obviously, hes pretty good at what he does, so were going to have to find a way to fill the hole that he leaves, Miller said about Chapman. Weve got talented guys who are capable of stepping up, and its up to them to do it. I think they will.Pineda (5-9) pitched seven strong innings to beat Yankees nemesis Dallas Keuchel (6-10), last years AL Cy Young Award winner.I didnt want to make any mistakes because I knew this team is aggressive for the first pitch, Pineda said. I threw my best pitch for the first pitch.George Springer hit a leadoff homer and Luis Valbuena had three hits for Houston, which had won four straight. Top prospect Alex Bregman went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his major league debut.Romines double to deep center field scored Chase Headley, who singled to start the eighth.Hes done a really good job all around, Girardi said about Romine. This is a kid thats really persevered. Hes really fought to get to this spot and hes had a really good year.Headley singled in the fifth to drive in Didi Gregorius, tying it at 1.Pineda allowed five hits and struck out eight in his second straight solid outing after throwing six scoreless innings Wednesday against Baltimore.The big right-hander retired 14 of 15 during one stretch, but ran into trouble in the sixth. He loaded the bases with two outs before Bregman flied out to the right-field warning track.Springers fifth leadoff home run of the year was the 11th for the Astros this season, surpassing the previous club record of 10 set in 2001.Keuchel gave up two runs and six hits with five strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. He has allowed two runs or fewer in four straight starts.The left-hander retired 13 of his first 14 batters. The only hit he gave up was Romines single in the third until Gregorius double in the fifth.I felt like today was the first time even through this whole stretch that I was able to command both sides of the plate, Keuchel said. Fastballs to both sides. The only thing lacking were a few sliders to Romine.BIG DEALChapman was sent to the Cubs for pitcher Adam Warren and three minor league prospects.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: INF Marwin Gonzalez sat out after spraining his left ankle in the fifth inning Sunday. Hes doing OK, manager A.J. Hinch said. We are keeping him out of some baseball activities to monitor his ankle. Well give him the day off, but I would really like him to play tomorrow if hes capable.A-ROD OPTIMISTICYankees DH Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup for a third straight game. Rodriguez, who is 4 for 31 with one home run in July, is batting .206 this season with nine home runs and 29 RBI, but hes optimistic after speaking to the Yankees sabermetrics department. Theres no question that for the first two months, my mechanics were out of whack, Rodriguez said. I think I found something, and Im excited to put it into play.UP NEXTYankees: LHP CC Sabathia (5-8) will start his 18th game of the season Tuesday. Sabathia has allowed 31 runs -- 29 earned -- in his last 35 innings, spanning six starts.Astros: RHP Doug Fister (10-6) will make his 20th start of the season and look to follow up one of his best outings of the year when he threw seven scoreless innings Wednesday at Oakland. Cheap New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Authentic Saints Jerseys . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. http://www.cheapsaintsjerseyselite.com/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Youth Saints Jerseys . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Cheap Saints Jerseys . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Danny Duffy didnt pitch quite as well as he did in his previous start -- that wouldve been hard to match. He did plenty, though, to stop Aaron Sanchez and the Blue Jays.Duffy and the Kansas City Royals ended a 10-game winning streak by Sanchez, topping Toronto 4-2 Saturday night.Duffy (8-1) struck out a team-record 16 and permitted just one hit over eight innings at Tampa Bay in his last start. He won his seventh straight decision, holding the Blue Jays to two runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings.I think the last start was probably the best start of my career, Duffy said. On days like that, I had everything working. Today not so much. Today, I didnt have what I had the last time out, but I had enough. It wasnt as good as the last one, but it was good enough.Sanchez (11-2) hadnt lost since April 22 against Oakland. He allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings.Sanchez still leads the AL with a 2.85 ERA.The Blue Jays opted earlier this week to go with a six-man rotation instead of putting the 24-year-old Sanchez in the bullpen to limit his innings.Its not like I thought he was out there distracted or rattled or anything, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. They just beat him. Nobodys invincible.Devon Travis led off the game with a home run for the second straight night. He also had an RBI single in the fifth after Kevin Pillar doubled.It was a minor frustration, leaving a changeup up after Ive been so good with my changeup this entire season, Duffy said of Travis leadoff homer. It was frustrating, but you dont let it affect the next hitter and I didnt, just kind of moved on.Eric Hoosmer hit a two-out, two-run single in a three-run fifth that made it 3-2.ddddddddddddWe had four hits that inning and three of them were infield hits, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Hos came through. It was a big two-out hit.Sanchez pitched only 102 innings last year, including 9 2/3 in the minors on a rehab assignment after a shoulder injury. The All-Star righty has thrown 145 1/3 innings this season.Alcides Escobars infield single scored Kansas Citys first run.Raul Mondesi had an RBI triple in the sixth for his first extra-base hit in his 11th game in the majors.The Royals scored more than three runs in a game for the first time in 10 games.Kelvin Herrera picked up his fourth save in six chances, working a perfect ninth.LEADING OFFTravis became the first Blue Jays player to hit a leadoff home run in back-to-back game since Jose Cruz Jr. on April 22-23, 2000, against the Yankees. Mookie Betts of the Red Sox was the last to accomplish that feat in the majors, doing it last month.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: LHP Mike Minor (recovery from labrum surgery) is slated to throw five or six innings, up to 80 pitches, in a Sunday rehab start for Triple-A Omaha. In his prior two rehab starts, he has allowed no earned runs and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.UP NEXTBlue Jays: RHP Marcus Stroman, who struck out a career-best 13 Astros on Monday, starts the series finale.Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura is looking for his first victory since June 17. He is 0-5 with a 5.40 ERA in his past seven starts. ' ' '