For the Yankees, It’s a Small Victory

The bad news about the New York Yankees’ starting pitching staff kept piling up: injuries, ineffectiveness, questions about who would pitch the next time through the rotation.

Then Aaron Small gave the Yankees the start they desperately needed. Replacing the injured Mike Mussina, Small pitched his first career shutout to help the Yankees move back into a tie for the AL wild-card lead with a 7-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

“He’s become someone you rely on,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “We started the season with the starters we had and we certainly didn’t foresee this. You have some bad surprises with the injuries, and you can have some good ones like this.”

Small signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in January but figured to get few chances to start since New York had Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Kevin Brown and Jaret Wright in front of him.

But Pavano and Brown went down earlier in the season, Mussina acknowledged Friday that he might miss the rest of the season, and Wright was hit by a line drive in the neck Thursday that put his next start in jeopardy. Al Leiter then got knocked out in the first inning of a 12-0 loss Friday, putting pressure on Small to deliver.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Small said. “To do it at this level, with this team, in this kind of race we’re in. I’m just glad I could help this team.”

Jason Giambi hit a three-run homer, Hideki Matsui drove in New York’s first two runs without a hit and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run single in a six-run seventh inning.