TAMPA — Delin Betances didn't know his fastball topped out at 94 mph on Tuesday night against the Tigers at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
All the Yankees' giant right-handed closer candidate understood was that it was short of the gas he hurled last season when he lived in the high 90s and reached 100 mph a few times.
"I haven't asked about it, but it's nowhere near where it should be,'' Betances said after a rocky frame in which his first eight pitches were out of the strike zone. "The more I pitch, that will come. Last year in spring training I trusted it more. This year I am trying to do too much instead of trusting what I have. The more I pitch the better I feel. I have always been like that.''
Betances will work Wednesday against the Mets in his first back-to-back action.
"It's not a concern for me, no,'' manager Joe Girardi said of Betances' velocity. "If it goes on for a long time, it will be a concern. Power pitchers usually take a little longer.''
Going into Tuesday night's start against the Tigers, Esmil Rogers appeared to be the favorite in the race for the fifth starter's spot.
Nevertheless, giving up five runs (one earned because of his fielding error) and five hits in three frames didn't solidify the opening in the rotation.
"Not great, bad day,'' said the right-hander who is in competition with Adam Warren, Chase Whitley and Bryan Mitchell. "The only way is to keep working. That decision they are going to make.''
"The error hurt him but he had a hard time getting the third out,'' Girardi said. "His stuff is better than the way he has pitched the last two outings. We will try to get it right.''
Girardi said he expects a decision by the end of the week so pitchers who don't make the rotation can work out of the pen to prepare for the start of the season.
Ramon Flores' three-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth carried the Yankees to a 9-8 win over the Tigers.
"He is a guy who is definitely on our radar,'' Girardi said of the left-handed hitting outfielder who will turn 24 on Thursday and is a career .271 minor league hitter. "If something would happen to one of our outfielders he would be a strong candidate.''
After catching Nathan Eovaldi for 4²/₃ innings in a minor league game, Austin Romine called the Yankees right-hander's new splitter "a work in progress."
That's to be expected, since Eovaldi just started throwing it toward the end of last season — and immediately added it to his arsenal for his final two starts with the Marlins.
Nathan EovaldiPhoto: Charles Wenzelberg
"It's like you've got a new tool to attack hitters with," Eovaldi said at the Yankees' minor league complex.
It's that pitch, along with a slider and curveball he's trying to refine, that the
Yankees are banking on in order to transform Eovaldi from a project to a reliable member of the rotation.
Against the Blue Jays' minor league team, largely made up of Triple-A Buffalo players, Eovaldi had his customary mid-90s fastball. The 223 hits he gave up with Miami a year ago, however, prove his power arm is not enough to make him successful.
On Tuesday, Eovaldi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild agreed he was rushing the off-speed pitches that have been an issue for the 25-year-old.
But Rothschild saw some positives out of Eovaldi, who fanned five.
"I saw some good [splitters]," Rothschild said.
Romine, who is trying to make the Yankees as a backup to Brian McCann, knows Eovaldi's task isn't an easy one.
"He's working on it," Romine said of the splitter. "We threw a lot of them today. The splitter is not a very easy pitch to start throwing. It's definitely a hard one because he throws the ball hard."
Eovaldi, who underwent Tommy John surgery when he was a junior in high school, insists he's unconcerned with the toll the pitch may take on his elbow — since the grip he uses is easier on his arm than that of others who throw the pitch.
He was throwing a slider while at Alvin High School outside of Houston when he injured his elbow and had the surgery, done by the Astros' team doctor thanks to a high-school connection.
"I had two partial tears, where it connects on both sides of the ligament, so for me it was kind of a no-brainer," Eovaldi said. "I wasn't even thinking of getting drafted. I was thinking of playing college ball."
Instead, he was selected in the 11th round of the 2008 draft by the Dodgers, but his results haven't lived up to his stuff.
According to Girardi, Jacoby Ellsbury is making progress and likely will be ready for Opening Day.
Jacoby EllsburyPhoto: AP
"He did some light broomstick swings [Monday],'' Girardi said of the center fielder, who is out with a strained right oblique injury. "He is progressing great. As long as he is in [a game] by next Tuesday, I feel that we are going to be OK.''
CC Sabathia, who is scheduled to start Saturday against the Orioles, is in line to start the second game of the season after Masahiro Tanaka pitches Opening Day. Tanaka will start Wednesday, Warren on Thursday, Michael Pineda on Friday and Eovaldi on Sunday.
Jose Pirela has an impact test remaining, but said he is feeling "much better'' after suffering a concussion Sunday.
"The only thing is that I have a little soreness in the neck and entire back,'' said Pirela, who was hit in the head by a pitch two years ago in Double-A and missed two months with a concussion.
Then he had "constant headaches and was throwing up'' but says he hasn't had to deal with those problems this time.
Alex Rodriguez hasn't played first base yet, but Girardi said it's possible.
"[That idea is] not dead,'' the manager said. "The most important thing is getting at-bats. My guess is you will see him in a spring-training game [at first].''
Rodriguez hung around first base in a cutoff drill, but didn't handle any throws.
Girardi said he would rather use Rodriguez at first than insert McCann or Chase Headley.
Romine understands his own predicament. He's 26, out of options and in competition with John Ryan Murphy for the backup-catcher job.
"I definitely think about it," said Romine, who has drawn interest from the Phillies and Padres. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't. But I come out here and it's the same as any other year. I've got to play well to make any team, so I'm busting my [butt] as hard as I can, trying to give them a reason to take me."
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