Clint Frazier returns to Yankees' starting lineup after neck issue, has an eventful day
Yankees rightfielder Clint Frazier singles against the White Sox during the ninth inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Clint Frazier’s mysterious neck injury remains a mystery. The Yankees outfielder returned to the lineup on Sunday but declined to reveal why he was sidelined most of last week.
Frazier went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Yankees beat the White Sox, 5-4.
Frazier led off the ninth with a single to center and scored the winning run on Aaron Judge's bases-loaded walk. He entered the game batting .150 and left it at .171.
"I felt good from the jump," he said. "So I’m just glad to be in the lineup and try to come up big whenever I get the opportunity."
Frazier, who hadn’t started since Monday with what manager Aaron Boone called "neck things," struck out as a pinch hitter on Saturday.
"I’m not going to go into too much detail," Frazier said when asked what "neck things" meant. "There was something that I brought to the attention of the training staff and we just went on a couple conversations to try to see what we need to do about it. We found a solution and I was good enough to go out there today and perform well."
Frazier almost caught Yasmani Grandal's homer to right-center off Chad Green in the seventh, which brought the White Sox within 4-3. He had it lined up with a leap at the wall, but the ball went into the arms of a fan in a Yankees pinstriped jersey. It wasn’t fan interference because the drive was in the first row of the stands.
"I thought that I was going to get it," Frazier said. "I think he just caught the ball at a higher point than where I was at. I’m not sure. I haven’t got a good look at it. I thought I was going to get it. I felt like I timed it pretty well. That ball was up for grabs for both of us and he got it."
Extra bases
In the last five games, Yankees starting pitchers have thrown 35 shutout innings, allowing 16 hits and six walks for an 0.63 WHIP. When Jameson Taillon left the game after five innings Sunday, Yankees pitchers overall had allowed one run in the last 45 innings.
The 35 scoreless innings matched a string in 1947 for the second-longest in team history behind 40 innings in 1932, according to STATS. The Yankees have strung together five straight scoreless starts for the first time. It’s the first by any team since Washington from June 20-25, 2015.
Gleyber Torres (3-for-4) drove in eight of the Yankees’ first 11 runs in the series and went 8-for-12 overall. Since returning from the COVID-19 list on Wednesday, he is 11-for-18 (.611) with one home run and eight RBIs in five games.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
