Major League Baseball

Adams to start for Yanks at Boston in big league debut

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:04 p.m. ET

BOSTON (AP) — Right-hander Chance Adams is being called up by the New York Yankees to make his major league debut Saturday against Boston.

Left-hander J.A. Happ went on the 10-day disabled list with hand, foot and mouth disease and Luis Cessa pitched in relief during Thursday's 15-7, series-opening loss to the Red Sox.

New York demoted Sonny Gray to the bullpen after his loss Wednesday to Baltimore and replaced him in the rotation with newly acquired Lance Lynn, who pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief against the Orioles.

"Obviously coming here to a big-time environment, hopefully we prepare them for all that — the outside stuff — and not just between the lines," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Friday. "That said, it's first start and there's always going to be jitters that go with that and that's part of it and dealing with it. Sometimes that can be something that works for you, and hopefully that's the case with Chance."

A 23-year-old right-hander selected on the fifth round three years ago, Adams is 3-5 with an ERA of 4.50 in 21 starts with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.

"Hopefully he, as we've seen with a lot of our guys, they've come up and been able to handle these situations," Boone said. "I think it's a tribute to our player development and our organization for preparing these guys for what it is to come up here and pitch in the fire and play in the fire."

New York recalled right-hander Tommy Kahnle from Scranton and optioned Cessa to its top farm team.