The Yankees called up pitcher D.J. Mitchell and demoted reliever Cody Eppley before Sunday's matinee against the Tigers. Mitchell was 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA in four starts with Scranton (AAA) and will be a long reliever for the Yankees.

"He's another guy that can give you distance out of the bullpen," manager Joe Girardi said.

Mitchell, 25, was one of the choices for the final spots on the roster out of spring training, but that spot instead went to David Phelps. Mitchell has continued to pitch well with Scranton before being called up to the Bronx for the first time. Mitchell said he found out Saturday.

Girardi said that Mitchell was close to getting the nod for the final spot and the team felt good about all three candidates, but Phelps' experience and production stuck out. Mitchell said he really wasn't that disappointed that he didn't earn the spot as the long reliever on the team.

"For me, I've known Phelps since day one. I'm known Warren for a while too. I think either way, I think we were all proud of each other and of course you are going to be disappointed when your told you're getting sent down, but to that extent, not as bad," Mitchell said. "To be here now, I don't really know how to explain it, it's everything you hear about. I'll be asking Phelps a lot of questions since he's been here. I'm going to take the best out of it and roll with it and see what happens."

After his strong spring, Mitchell had an idea that he would be one of the first players the Yankees considered for a promotion. He replaces Eppley, who pitched four times and had a 1.69 ERA spanning 5 1/3 innings.

"I knew I was pretty close but I knew I had to still pitch well and improve on some things at the AAA level," Mitchell said. "I was fortunate enough to be able to do that.