ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This was better. J.A. Happ was more aggressive Thursday night, worked his fastball in the lanes where he needed to work them, which in turn made his secondary pitches better.
The transformation took a step forward as Happ is fighting for survival in the Yankees rotation.
Happ — who had struggled in his previous four starts, including getting lit up for eight runs in four innings in his last outing — survived for 5 ¹/₃ innings. He surrendered a run in the first, but he did not break. He walked three and allowed three hits while striking out five. His fastball was in the low 90s, but it played because he focused more on hitting his spots with that four-seam fastball.
“After that first inning when he allowed that one run,’’ said catcher Gary Sanchez, whose three-run home run in the 10th inning helped carry the Yankees to an 8-4 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field, “we found a way to get ahead, to attack the hitters. He gave us a chance to go out there and battle for him and that was big.’’
If not for Aroldis Chapman’s ninth-inning blowup, Happ would have gotten the win as his ERA dropped from 5.23 to 5.02.
“He attacked,’’ Aaron Boone said. “He pitched in, he pitched out. I thought his slider, cutter to righties gave him a little bit of presence to go in there along with his four-seamer. He mixed in the changeup and the two-seamer away, so I thought he did a little bit of everything well.’’
At least he kept the Yankees in the game and left with a lead.
“I think I had a little bit better command, a little bit more consistency, I think that helped,’’ Happ said.
His fastball is still not like it was last year when he came over from the Blue Jays.
“I felt strong with it,’’ Happ said of his four-seamer. “I had a couple extra days [of rest] since my last [start] and it was about trying to harness that and I felt that we had some pretty good sequences and just being able to move the ball around a little bit.’’
So what did he learn from this outing?
“I think when my focus is there, and my execution is there I can pitch,’’ the lefty said. “I never lost confidence in that I just needed to go out there and do that and the consistency of execution is the most important thing. You got to take it for what it is. At the end of the day if you feel good about what you were able to do. How you were able to execute then you can live with that.’’