Mayza shows willingness to sacrifice body in Yankees debut

DETROIT -- Tim Mayza had been in pinstripes for all of two days before he showed the Yankees just what they were getting.

Actually, he hasn’t yet had the chance to see how he looks in white, since New York added him to the roster during the current road trip. That his debut occurred during a 4-0 loss to the Tigers on Saturday at Comerica Park didn’t make it any less memorable.

“I think regardless of the scenario, it's my job just to prevent the other team from scoring any way possible,” Mayza said, “and that was [what I needed to do today].”

Mayza entered to start the bottom of the sixth and promptly allowed a triple to Spencer Torkelson, who had himself been recalled from Triple-A before the game. Mayza recovered to blow a 93.2 mph sinker past Jace Jung on the next pitch, but catcher Austin Wells bobbled the pitch, and it popped off his mask and dribbled away toward the visitor’s dugout.

By the time Wells had recovered, scooped up the carom and wheeled to fire it home, Torkelson and Mayza were barreling toward the plate, both from about 15 feet away.

“Part of it is probably some anger [about allowing the triple],” Mayza said afterward, “but then there's another side that's like, any time you're out there, you're doing everything you can to not let the other team score.

“I just reacted to him running and wanting to make the play and make sure he didn't score.”

Torkelson went in head-first. Mayza caught Wells’ flip and slid on his right side in a last-ditch effort to beat the Tigers’ first baseman home. The two collided, with Mayza T-boning Torkelson just as the latter skidded to a stop and tumbling over the top of him, landing on his glove side with the ball still safely inside.

Home-plate umpire Nestor Ceja signaled Torkelson out trying to score what would have been the Tigers’ fifth run. As Detroit moved to challenge the call, Torkelson gestured emphatically that he’d gotten under Mayza’s glove. Mayza simply got to his feet and walked calmly to the side.

Mayza knew what he had, and soon enough, the call was upheld. Torkelson was out and Mayza had proved a point: There is no surrender in New York, no matter the situation. The Yankees might have been down by four runs, but there would not be a fifth.

Not on the new guy’s watch, anyway.

“I thought he finished the inning really good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “[His] first couple pitches to Torkelson felt like he was kind of getting it going a little bit, and then by the end of the inning, it was like, boom, he started to pop some, and I felt like, ‘Oh, there he is.’”

Mayza’s hustle highlighted a second consecutive strong effort from the bullpen, which worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief after the Tigers wore down starter Carlos Rodón with extended at-bats. Rodón lasted just 3 1/3 innings, not so much due to ineffectiveness, but when his pitch count hit 90 with a Zach McKinstry strikeout in the fourth, Boone decided it was a good point to end the outing on a high note.

“I just didn't have that A-plus stuff, and I was trying to go out there and compete,” Rodón said. “I need to be better than that.”

Rodón entered the outing vying for an MLB lead-tying 14th win. He’d won four consecutive starts, posting a 2.22 ERA and 31 strikeouts in those combined 24 1/3 innings. Though Rodón drew a game-high-tying nine swings and misses, four of them off his change, he also allowed Detroit to tag him for four runs, three which came with two outs in the second.

Jake Cousins (1 2/3 innings), Mayza, Mark Leiter Jr. and Tim Hill (one inning each) worked sharp appearances to keep New York close, but the bats were quiet during the club’s sixth shutout defeat of the season.

The Yankees, who collected just four hits in the loss, still have a chance to win the series with a victory Sunday night at the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa.