ATLANTA — Randy Vasquez was not around for long Wednesday, but he fared the best of any Yankees starter in their series against a loaded Braves lineup.
The rookie right-hander held his own in the Yankees’ 2-0 loss to the Braves, giving up a pair of runs over 3 ¹/₃ innings on another night when the Yankees’ offense fell flat.
“Definitely a big learning experience,” Vasquez, who struck out three and walked three, said through an interpreter. “Facing a lineup like the one they have, full of talent, it adds on to the career I’m trying to build. Every time I get an opportunity to pitch at this level, it allows me to keep growing as a pitcher.”
The Yankees considered using an opener ahead of Vasquez, as they had on Friday against the Marlins, but instead gave him the opportunity to go right after the Braves.
He struck out Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson in the first inning before giving up a two-run homer to Eddie Rosario in the second.
In the fourth, Vasquez allowed back-to-back walks with one out, at which point manager Aaron Boone went to the bullpen.
Michael King stranded both runners, ensuring that Vasquez held the Braves down better than Clarke Schmidt or Luis Severino, who started the first two games of the series.
“I thought he was aggressive,” Boone said. “I thought he pitched with confidence.”
Carlos Rodon threw a five-inning simulated game on Wednesday in Tampa, keeping him on track to make his return to the Yankees’ rotation on Tuesday against the Nationals in The Bronx, assuming he has no setbacks before then.
“I think everything went well,” Boone said. “But we’ll see how the recovery and everything goes these next several days.”
It remains to be seen who will be bounced from the rotation to make room for Rodon, but Severino figures to remain in it after looking better on Tuesday night. Though the right-hander still gave up five runs (three earned) on a pair of home runs in a 5-0 loss, he showed more signs of coming out of his brutal stretch.
For only the second time this season when he has been in the lineup, Aaron Judge was not the Yankees’ No. 2 hitter.
Boone flip-flopped Judge and Gleyber Torres in the second and third spots, which ultimately made little difference, but the manager said he was just trying to shake things up.
“Obviously teams are pitching carefully, understandably, to Aaron,” Boone said. “If we can get an extra opportunity to get a guy on in front of him, if Aaron continues to get on like he does, a chance for someone in the middle to come up with a big one to hopefully put some crooked numbers on the board.”
Both Torres and Judge went 1-for-4.
In 18 games since his return from the injured list, Judge has walked 20 times, but only has come around to score three times after those free passes.
In rare fashion, Boone wore his full uniform for the game Tuesday.
Asked if that had to do with superstition and trying to shake things up during the Yankees’ funk, he didn’t say no.
“Every now and then I’ll break it out,” he said with a grin. “Maybe see the pinstripes this weekend one day.”
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