NEW YORK — Newly acquired left-hander Chris Capuano will join the New York Yankees’ rotation and take the spot of Chase Whitley, who is being moved to the bullpen.

Capuano will start Saturday against Toronto, with Shane Greene pushed back to Sunday. David Phelps, Brandon McCarthy are Hiroki Kuroda are New York’s other starters, with only Kuroda left from the original rotation that was decimated by injuries to CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda.

“We’re going with the guy that’s a little bit more experienced. It doesn’t mean that Chase won’t have any more starts for us,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said Friday, a day after Capuano was acquired from Colorado for cash.

Girardi hadn’t known Capuano before now and asked the pitcher what to call him. “Cap” was the response.

“I can’t call him CC, right?” Girardi said.

METS: Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is returning to New York to have his right elbow examined.

Advertisement

The 33-year-old Matsuzaka pitched two innings and gave up three earned runs in the Mets’ 9-1 loss at Milwaukee on Thursday night.

“He said when he was loosening up, he could feel it a little bit, thought it was nothing that he couldn’t pitch through, but when the game was over it bothered him pretty good,” Manager Terry Collins said before Friday night’s game against the Brewers.

Matsuzaka is 3-3 with a 3.87 ERA in 28 games this season.

TWINS: Minnesota plans to bring up left-hander Logan Darnell from Triple-A Rochester to start Saturday against the Chicago White Sox in place of ailing Kyle Gibson.

Gibson played long toss from 120 feet and threw in the bullpen Friday. He’ll try to start Tuesday in Kansas City.

The right-hander originally was scheduled to pitch Wednesday against Cleveland but was scratched the day before due to lower back stiffness. Gibson is 8-8 with a 4.19 ERA in 19 starts.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.