The New York Yankees are in the midst of a tight division race with the Toronto Blue Jays and the club made a change to its starting rotation on Wednesday to help increase their chances at an AL East title. Meanwhile, in Washington, Bryce Harper reached a career milestone and made MLB history.
New York trails Toronto by three games in the AL East and leads the AL wild-card by 3.5 games over the Houston Astros. The Yankees' starting rotation has not been good as of late for a number of reasons and manager Joe Girardi opted to make a big change.
Starting pitcher Ivan Nova was demoted to the bullpen, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Yankees have removed Ivan Nova from the rotation. He will be available out of the bullpen.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 16, 2015
Girardi said Adam Warren, who was arguably the most consistent starter on the staff at the beginning of the season, will take his place in the rotation. Nova has made 14 starts this season in his first year back from Tommy John surgery, but the right-hander has struggled mightily. He's 6-8 with a 5.11 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 46 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings, and he was just 2-2 with an 8.27 ERA, 1.84 WHIP and 12 strikeouts in four starts (20 2/3 innings) before going down with his season-ending elbow injury in 2014.
Nova, 28, has particularly had trouble since early August, going 2-5 with a 7.46 ERA in seven starts over that span.
Warren returned to the rotation earlier this week against the Tampa Bay Rays after starting the season 5-5 with a 3.63 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 58 strikeouts in 15 starts (86 2/3 innings) as the team was waiting for Nova to return from Tommy John surgery. Girardi then moved Warren to the bullpen when Nova returned and said the reason was because he eclipsed his career-high in innings pitched.
The Yankees have a crucial series coming up against the New York Mets this weekend and will try to catch Toronto as the Jays head to Boston to face the Red Sox.
On a lighter note, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is having a career season in which he's currently the frontrunner for the NL MVP. The 22-year-old hit his 40th home run of the season last night against the Philadelphia Phillies and joined Mel Ott, Joe DiMaggio, Eddie Mathews, Johnny Bench, Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez as the only players to hit 40 home runs before the age of 23.
Check out his historic milestone below:
Harper leads the NL in home runs and trails only Nelson Cruz (42) and Chris Davis (42) in the entire MLB. The youngster is batting .338/.467/.670/1.137 (all lead MLB) with 109 runs scored (leads MLB), 40 home runs and 92 RBIs in 138 games this year.
