The New York Yankees' pitching staff has a 2.88 ERA in the team's last 22 games. Unfortunately, the offense has not been nearly as successful, as the Yankees have scored more than five runs just once in their last 12 games.
Wednesday night was another case of the offense letting the pitching down. A.J. Burnett pitched seven one-hit innings, but the Yankees stranded 15 baserunners in a 4-3 11-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals.
The Yankees look to turn that around Thursday night, and right now whether or not they will have slugging second baseman Robinson Cano in the lineup to try and help is not known. Cano is day-to-day after getting hit in the helmet by a Nate Adcock pitch in the fifth inning Wednesday. Results of Cano's CT scan at a local hospital were negative, according to a team spokesperson.
Young right-hander Ivan Nova pitches Thursday for the Yankees. Nova has won back-to-back outings and is coming off Friday's 4-1 victory at Texas in which he allowed one unearned run and two hits through 7 1/3 innings, improving to 3-2 in seven games (6 starts) with a 4.08 ERA. Sean O'Sullivan, 1-2 with a 3.41 earned run average in six games (4 starts) this season, pitches for Kansas City.