Green stays on target in pitchers' duel

After allowing the first two batters of the game to reach base, Chad Green was unfazed. The Yankees right-hander proceeded to strike out the side en route to a dominant scoreless start.

Green (5-6) surrendered two hits and a walk while striking out nine over seven innings as Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre won a 1-0 pitchers' duel against Toledo.

It started inauspiciously with a walk to Detroit's No. 11 prospect Dixon Machado and a line-drive single by Tyler Collins.

"Obviously, not the way you want to start the game, but it happened," said Green. "The next three guys, I was just trying to focus on the glove, get back in the zone and slow the game a bit."

The 2013 11th-round pick retired eight in a row after his rough start before another single by Collins in the third. Green was locked in from there, inducing six ground balls and whiffing four while setting down the final 13 Mud Hens he faced.

"My fastball command was pretty good," he said. "I was able to throw some off-speed for strikes early in the count to keep them off balance, and [catcher] Gary [Sanchez] did a great job calling the game."

Toledo starter Chad Bell (4-1) matched his counterpart zero for zero for six innings. The RailRiders didn't break through for the game's lone run until the seventh inning, when Tyler Austin took the first pitch he saw from Preston Guilmet over the left-center field wall, his third homer of the season. The quick pace of the game -- it ended in two hours and nine minutes -- allowed Green to stay in a groove.

"I think you get in a better rhythm during games like this, but obviously, you want the offense to score some runs," he said. "It seemed like he was going 1-2-3 every inning too, and it's surely a lot easier to get into a rhythm that way."

Green was efficient through seven innings, utilizing 94 pitches -- 62 for strikes. He had thrown at least 97 pitches in five of his past six outings, including 108 two starts ago, but the coaching staff decided not to send him out for the eighth.

"[I was] a little bit [surprised]," the 25-year-old said about being pulled. "I had a couple quick-pitch outs that really helped. I fell behind some guys and got back in with some off-speed pitches and locating my fastball behind in the count. It's always big when you can get a couple of quick-pitch outs."

Green tied his season high by getting nine outs on the ground and just one in the air, his best ratio of the season. The Louisville product entered Wednesday's start with a 1.18 ground-to-fly ball ratio, but didn't change his approach in this start.

"Just kind of going with the flow of the game," Green said. "I get more outs on the ground than in the air in general, but I was just trying to work down in the zone and throw some two-seamers."

He had gone 0-3 and allowed nine runs -- seven earned -- over 18 2/3 innings since holding Norfolk scoreless over seven frames for his fourth win of the season on May 27. Wednesday felt like a solid bounceback outing to him.

"It's big -- I was just trying to throw up zeros," said Green. "The way we're playing right now, things are starting to click more and more every day. Just made a couple bad pitches at the wrong time, but just trying to get the defense off the field."

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound hurler made his Major League debut in mid-May against the Diamondbacks, allowing six runs -- four earned -- on eight hits and a walk while striking out six over five frames. He's gone 2-3 since returning to Triple-A with a 2.55 ERA over 31 2/3 innings, and the Greenville, South Carolina native took a few things away from his big league opportunity.

"I talked to some people when I was up there -- just trying to work on a third pitch and make my secondary stuff more consistent so I can throw that when I need to," said Green. "Trying not to overthrow early in the game -- that tends to happen with me -- and just trying not to do too much.

"I think when I made that spot start, I was overthrowing -- my ball was flat, not getting much movement. I was trying to do too much and the game sped up a bit. Just trying to work on slowing the game down and making the pitch when I need to."

Donovan Solano collected two of Scranton/WIlkes-Barre's four hits and rehabbing Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira went 1-for-2 with a walk in his second rehab game with the RailRiders. The 36-year-old hopes to make his return to the Major League lineup this weekend.