Yates goes on IL with shoulder impingement

Both starters in the Detroit-Pittsburgh game are hanging it up, and while Justin Verlander will someday be elected to Cooperstown, Yates had a heck of a career as well. He made that first start of his long career at the age of 39 on Saturday, and he finishes with a 3.35 ERA and 101 saves in his 518 appearances.

It sure felt like the final moment of Yates’ career when he tipped his cap to the crowd following a heartfelt send-off from his teammates after a scoreless outing in his first-ever start. The 39-year-old right-hander has spent time with eight different organizations since 2014, posting a 3.35 ERA along with 101 saves in 518 appearances during that span.

The 39-year-old Yates, out since Sept. 3 with a shoulder impingement, will get a chance to finish out the season and maybe his career on the active roster. He has a nice 3.40 ERA in 39 2/3 innings for the Angels and Pirates this year, but he is weighing retirement.

Yates heads to Pittsburgh as a reliable late-inning option as they attempt to make a late-season playoff push. The 39-year-old veteran has notched three saves this season along with a respectable 3.95 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 36/12 K/BB ratio across 27 1/3 innings of work.

Yates came on with a 1-0 lead to protect. The 39-year-old hurler made things interesting by plunking Dillon Dingler to open the ninth inning. He then battled back to get Spencer Torkelson on a fly ball to left field before James Outman swiped second base to put the tying run in scoring position. Yates then walked Riley Greene before getting Kerry Carpenter on a fly ball to left field for the second out. Hao-Yu Lee followed with a two-run double that gave the Tigers their first lead of the day and put Yates in position for a loss.

It’s been a bit difficult for Yates to get in a groove since very few save opportunities come up for the Angels. Still, he locked this one down and has only allowed one run over his last 12 appearances. It’s been easy to overlook that he’s actually having a fine season with a 3.00 ERA across 24 appearances, but just three saves.

Yates came into a tie game in the ninth and gave up a groundball single, a sac bunt and then a long single off the wall in left to end the game. It was a tough break for a reliever who has been very good of late with little to show for it. It was the first run he’d allowed since June 22 and the first earned run since June 8. He’s still a candidate for saves in the Angels’ pen, though he has earned just two so far.

The 39-year-old Yates had 41 saves for the Padres in 2019, 33 for the Rangers in 2024 and now 26 in his other 10 seasons as a big leaguer. He should stay in the mix for saves in Anaheim, but his velocity is down 1.5-2 mph from last year and about three mph from his prime, making him difficult to rely on.

Yates was pitching with the Angels down 6-0 in the ninth, so this was hardly a crucial appearance for the 39-year-old. Still, it was nice to see him average 91 mph with his fastball for just the second time this season and fan three batters for the first time. His average fastball tonight was still down 1.7 mph from last year, and there’s little reason to expect big things going forward. However, there’s no one in the Angels pen who is clearly a better bet than Yates at the moment.

Brought in with a 4-3 lead, Yates blew the save after Jeremy Peña singled, stole second base and scored on a Christian Walker single. After the game, manager Kurt Suzuki said Yates was closing tonight because that’s what the Angels signed him to do in the offseason, which was pretty amusing because Suzuki made no such claim while declaring the ninth an open competition this spring. Signing Yates didn’t seem like such a bad idea then, but his velocity has been down about two mph from last year. Maybe he’ll get a little better than his current 5.23 ERA, but it’s hard to be overly optimistic.