Yankees southpaw James Paxton returned to the rotation on Wednesday afternoon against the Padres and tossed four no-hit innings. Paxton was on the IL for about four weeks with a left knee ailment and was brilliant in his first start back.
Paxton has been terrific for the Yankees when he's been healthy, going 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in eight starts. The lefty joined WFAN's Mike Francesa Friday to talk about his success in his first two months pitching in New York.
"It's been a lot of fun to pitch with the Yankees. Such a great defense behind me. We're scoring runs, which is awesome. Really like the catchers I get to work with. Sanchez and Romine have been great behind the dish for me. Sanchez tries really hard back there. He's done a good job for me. I know he puts in the work. As long as the guy is willing to put in the work and make the effort, I'll work with him and he's been doing that and doing a great job."
Paxton was pulled early against the Padres as the Yankees ease him back. That workload should increase as he goes on.
"There will be some sort of buildup as far as pitch count. I think last game I threw about 66 pitches. I imagine next time out it will be somewhere around 80 pitches and then after that I'm hoping to be back to 100 and kind of normal workload," Paxton said. "We got me back as fast as we possibly could and put in a lot of work. Doctors said it will continue to get better and better as I get going here. It's feeling pretty dang good and felt really good out there the other day. So that was really positive."
The Yankees enter Friday's game against the Red Sox in first place at 36-19. They have dealt with numerous injuries and still keep on winning.
"It's impressive to watch. We have had a lot of guys step up. It seems to be a different guy every night," said Paxton. "Some night it's Gio Urshela or Frazier. DJ LeMahieu has been awesome for us...just a consistent presence in our lineup. Luke Voit has been great. I can go through our whole lineup.
"It's been quite a run. It's going to be really fun when we get some guys back like Judge and Giancarlo. I can't imagine what this team is going to be capable of come July and August. It's a really good team. We got great chemistry, great leadership with CC and Gardy in here. They've done an awesome job here putting this group together."
You can hear the entire interview with The Big Maple with Francesa in the audio player above.
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