LOS ANGELES — Tommy Kahnle lastly returned to the mound on Friday evening, and although his high fastball velocity didn’t instantly include him, the Yankees have been total inspired by the outing.
Six months after he signed on for a 3rd stint with the Yankees, Kahnle made his season debut with a scoreless inning of reduction on Friday in a loss to the Dodgers.
“It felt actually good,” mentioned Kahnle, who missed the primary two months with proper biceps tendinitis. “Clearly I didn’t just like the outcomes, however I assume I additionally put up a zero. On the finish of the day, I felt good, in order that’s a constructive and we’ll work on the others.”
Kahnle was activated off the injured listing on Thursday and jumped proper into motion on Friday, working round a double and a stroll by getting a strikeout to flee the jam.
He leaned on his changeup, throwing it for 23 of his 29 pitches whereas his 5 fastballs averaged 94.2 mph — down from the 95.5 mph he averaged in restricted motion final season.
“Nonetheless working to get that life on the heater, although he was sitting in that 94-95 [range],” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned of Kahnle, who didn’t pitch in the Yankees’ 6-3 win on Saturday . “However he had an excellent changeup going. It was good to see him, when he did stand up in that mid-20s [pitch count], preserve making pitches to work his means out of the inning.”
Kahnle mentioned he would possibly simply have to get extra innings below his belt with the intention to get the life again on his fastball.
“Simply form of getting on the market and getting with the stream of the sport once more,” Kahnle mentioned. “I’d assume simply extra reps, the extra time I can work on fastball command. I didn’t like the place it was at at present.”
The 33-year-old, who signed a two-year, $11.5 million cope with the Yankees, added a sinker to his repertoire over the offseason, although he didn’t throw any on Friday evening.
