TAMPA — If the Yankees biggest bullpen worry right now is Dellin Betances finding his groove, this bullpen will be spectacular.
All signs are pointing to complete dominance out of the pen for the Yankees, despite another rough day for Betances in the Yankees 6-5 win over the Pirates on Sunday at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Betances, who tried to ramp it up on the radar gun, getting to 93 mph, admitted this: “I just feel like crap.’’
He pointed to this being his third outing in five days as he surrendered two runs in a third of an inning, raising his spring training ERA to 7.71 for those who worry about spring training statistics.
Betances is traditionally a slow starter as he tries to corral his mechanics, not an easy chore for the 6-foot-8, 265-pound right-hander.
After Adam Ottavino’s amazing three-strikeout performance in the fifth when the Pirates had no chance against his breaking ball and Aroldis Chapman’s strong sixth inning, Betances could only get one out in the seventh, before being lifted by Aaron Boone.
“When you see the highlights of Otto you can add that one to it,’’ Boone said of the right-hander.
For Betances, it happens every spring and before he went out to pitch Sunday, Betances told The Post, “This is typical for me. I’m not worried at all. I’ll be fine.’’
After his last outing Betances said, “I won’t be all the way until May.’’
You can be sure he will be ready before then.
“I got tired and the breaking ball I couldn’t finish,’’ Betances said. “I couldn’t extend the right way and it wasn’t breaking the way I wanted it to. … It’s just a matter of building. I’ll be ready to go once the lights come on and we got about 50,000 in the stands.’’
Boone said Betances tried to up his velocity and “probably came out of his delivery a little bit.’’
The Yankees are forming this Super Pen and that’s what matters especially with their issues with starting pitching and Luis Severino (shoulder) sidelined.
As Sunday’s starter J.A. Happ said after his four-inning outing, “I anticipate it being fun to watch, I’ll say that. I think it’s a good group. [Ottavino] is such a different look and you always kind of put yourselves in other guy’s shoes and how it might be to pitch with their stuff. All those guys kind of have a unique pitch. It’s elite elite.’’
Elite elite.
There’s also lefty Zack Britton, Chad Green and Jonathan Holder, who did not surrender a hit while getting four outs Sunday. The Yankees came back to win on outfielder Zack Zehner’s two-run home run in the eighth.
Ron Guidry knows about elite pitching and the former Cy Young winner, who did pitch out of the bullpen when needed at times, said of this Yankees bullpen, “It’s awesome. I don’t know if there is a word to describe what it looks like. When you see the arms in that bullpen they’re scary. Scary. Name me 10 hitters who would love to hit off any one of those guys. Ten hitters volunteer your names. ‘Coach, I got something in my eye.’
“When you look at Dellin, Chapman, Ottavino, Britton, Green, Holder, who do you want to hit off? You have the luxury of sending out Britton to close if you need to give Chapman a rest. You got other guys too and you would not lose a beat.’’
Noted Happ, “I never really want to come out of a ballgame but when you’ve got the quality that we have, coming in behind you that certainly feels good. We want to get through the next two weeks with all those guys intact and ready to go.’’
That’s what matters most. Betances has known Ottavino since he was 13 years old.
“We were in the same summer-ball program,’’ he said. “His stuff is disgusting … he has a lot of movement. I went for a bathroom break and next thing you know he was already done. This is pretty insane.’’
Elite, elite and once Betances gets right you can add one more elite to the Yankees bullpen picture.
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