ARLINGTON, Texas – One-third of the Yankees’ trade deadline bullpen haul is headed for Triple-A.
The Yankees optioned Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday morning, a day after he gave up a walk-off three-run home run to Josh Jung in a brutal 8-5, 10-inning loss to the Rangers on Monday night.
It marked the second time in three outings since he was acquired from the Rockies that Bird got beat up in a harsh introduction to the Yankees.
He also gave up a grand slam to Kyle Stowers on Friday night in Miami, helping to blow a 9-4 lead on the way to a 13-12 loss.
Demoting Bird made room on the roster for the return of Mark Leiter Jr. from the injured list.
The early struggles for Bird were just a continuation of what was a rough month of July.
The righty reliever had pitched to a 2.63 ERA while giving up two home runs in his first 37 appearances through July 1. But in his last eight games as a Rockie, the 29-year-old got tagged for 14 earned runs (with three home runs) across 5 1/3 innings, good for a 23.63 ERA.
Bird, who cost the Yankees prospects Roc Riggio and Ben Shields, looked better on Saturday when tossed a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts while the Yankees trailed the Marlins 2-0.
And then he looked like he might just get out of the 10th inning unscathed Monday night after retiring the first two Rangers in order. But then the Yankees intentionally walked Wyatt Langford to get to Jung, who clobbered a 1-1 sinker into the night to walk it off.
David Bednar and Camilo Doval, the other two relievers the Yankees acquired at Thursday’s deadline, also struggled on Friday before both threw perfect innings Monday night in the leadup to Devin Williams blowing the save in the ninth on Joc Pederson’s game-tying homer.
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