Another day, another win. The Yankees won their sixth consecutive Grapefruit League game on Friday night, shutting out the Pirates four-zip. CC Sabathia was in midseason form, holding the Bucs to four hits and one walk in seven innings of work. He struck out seven and got ten ground ball outs compared to just two in the air. Vintage. The television gun had Sabathia mostly at 88-89 mph but there were a bunch of 90s and 91s mixed in throughout the outing. That’s encouraging. His offspeed stuff was dynamite.
Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira all went 0-for-3, though the first two drove in runs with ground balls. Jeter fouled two pitches off his left foot/ankle, but told Bryan Hoch he’s fine after the game. He was not scheduled to play Saturday, so Jeter will get a day to rest anyway. Brian McCann doubled in a run and the trio of Carlos Beltran, Alfonso Soriano, and Brian Roberts went 1-for-3. McCann also threw out two attempted base-stealers. Matt Thornton (two outs), Shawn Kelley (one), and David Robertson (three) retired all six batters faced. I hope every game goes this smoothly. Here’s the box score, here are the video highlights, and here’s the rest from Tampa.
- Before the game, Shane Greene and Greg Bird were named the 2013 Kevin Lawn Award winners as the organization’s minor league pitcher and hitter of the year, respectively. Congrats to them.
- Jacoby Ellsbury (calf) took batting practice and did some conditioning drills today. Everything went fine, as far as I can tell. Brian Cashman said he’s “not worried” about the injury and Joe Girardi said Ellsbury will likely play in a game either Sunday or Tuesday (they’re off on Monday). I’d put my money on Tuesday. [Jorge Castillo, David Waldstein]
- In case you missed it earlier, an MRI revealed a pinched nerve in Brendan Ryan’s back and he is likely to open the season on the DL. Cashman said “all the answers are here in camp” when asked about replacing Ryan, just in case you were hoping they’d make a trade or sign someone. [Bryan Hoch]
- Ivan Nova will indeed pitch in a minor league game on Monday. That’s how the rotation lines up. Both Vidal Nuno and Adam Warren threw 80+ pitches in a minor league game on Thursday, so they’re staying stretched out. Nova and Michael Pineda threw their scheduled bullpen sessions. [Chad Jennings, Castillo]
- Thornton will pitch again tomorrow night because Larry Rothschild wants to get him in a set of back-to-back games before the end of camp. [Castillo]
- One last thing: Friday was the first day teams can place players on the 15-day DL (of backdate the DL stint) if they intend to activate them right when the 15 days are up. Could come into play with Ryan. [Evan Drellich]
The Yankees are on the road to play the Twins in Fort Myers tomorrow afternoon, when Masahiro Tanaka will make his fourth start of the spring (really fifth if you count his simulated game). We’re approaching the point of the spring when the regular start playing two or three days in a row, but I’m not sure how many will make the 2+ hour bus trip south after playing tonight.
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