Yankees are thin in the middle innings

3:34 AM ET

PHOENIX — When the New York Yankees acquired Aroldis Chapman in January, it was widely assumed that adding the triple-digit closer to the already formidable duo of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller was the final piece in what would be the most imposing bullpen in baseball.

But no one seemed to worry about just how the Yankees would deliver the baseball, and the lead, to the three-headed bullpen monster.

After all, the Yankees’ middle relief seemed just fine in 2015 with Chasen Shreve, Justin Wilson, Adam Warren and a variety of situational types shuttling in and out from Scranton.

But now, a year later, Wilson and Warren are gone, and that Scranton Shuttle seems threadbare.

That weakness became obvious Monday night at Chase Field, when the Yankees and manager Joe Girardi chose to gamble on a first-time MLB starter, Chad Green, in the opener of a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks had Joe Girardi searching for answers, as Arizona battered the Yankees in a five-run fifth. Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports

The theory was that using Green against a team playing even worse baseball than the Yankees, one that was especially bad at home (5-16), would give all of the Yankees starters an extra days’ rest. They might even be able to cobble together a win using the rookie right-hander and an assortment of middle relievers since Betances, Miller and Chapman were not available.

To say it didn’t work is a gross understatement. Green couldn’t get an out in the fifth inning, and the three pitchers who followed him — Nick Goody, Conor Mullee, another MLB debutante, and Phil Coke — only made things worse, allowing the final six runs of a 12-2 Diamondbacks win.

OK, so the gamble didn’t …

continue reading in source espn.go.com