Rogers fires three scoreless frames in debut

BOSTON -- The Yankees have liked the reports on Esmil Rogers' live arm for a few years, and now that they've seen the right-hander in their uniform, there's reason for the team to be even more encouraged.

Rogers came out of the bullpen and silenced the Red Sox in his Yankees debut, hurling three innings of scoreless, hitless ball with three strikeouts in New York's 8-7 victory on Sunday at Fenway Park.

"Really good," Rogers said, smiling. "You could see how happy I was after I got a three-inning outing like that, so I just tried to give the opportunity for the team to win the game."

Rogers, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays on Thursday, and he had a 6.97 ERA in 16 appearances with Toronto. He is looking at this as a fresh start and became the 29th different player to pitch for the Yankees in 2014, setting a new single-season franchise record for pitchers used in a season.

"He did a great job," manager Joe Girardi said. "He kind of bridged us to where we wanted to get. We didn't really want to use [Adam] Warren tonight. I wasn't going to use Warren and I didn't want to use [Shawn] Kelley, so he did a tremendous job."

"He's a guy we've faced the last couple of seasons with Toronto, and he's got real good stuff," outfielder Brett Gardner said. "He came in in the middle of the game and really put a stop to everything."

With David Phelps likely to miss at least one start due to right elbow inflammation, Girardi said that Rogers would be built up enough to slide into the rotation for a spot start. He had started at Triple-A Buffalo in the Blue Jays' chain, where he was 2-2 with a 3.14 ERA in 12 games (seven starts).

"I'm just here for the opportunity, no matter what," Rogers said. "I'm healthy. It doesn't matter what I'm going to be, I'll be ready."