The Yankees beat the Astros 7-0 this afternoon. Chase Headley (3-for-4 with a double and a homer) and Rob Refsnyder (2-for-3 with two doubles) were the stars on offense. Stephen Drew and John Ryan Murphy both went 1-for-4 with a double and Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-1 with a walk. A-Rod played three innings at first base and supposedly did fine, though he only had to make routine plays.
Nathan Eovaldi started and was again very good, striking out five and allowing three hits in 4.2 innings. He threw 89 pitches, so it wasn’t his most economical outing. Eovaldi has 14 strikeouts and no walks in 13.2 Grapefruit League innings. Chase Whitley (one out) and Esmil Rogers (five outs) combined for two perfect innings, and Chasen Shreve retired four of the five batters he faced. There was no video broadcast for this afternoon’s game, so there are no highlights to watch. For shame. Here’s the box score and here are the rest of the day’s notes from Tampa:
- The Yankees announced another round of cuts: Scott Baker was released, Bryan Mitchell and Ramon Flores were optioned to Triple-A, and Kyle Davies, Francisco Arcia, Cole Figueroa, Jonathan Galvez, Slade Heathcott, Kyle Higashioka, Jacob Lindgren, and Nick Rumbelow were all reassigned to minor league camp. So much for Lindgren on the Opening Day roster. Brian Cashman said the team hopes to re-sign Baker, presumably after Opening Day so they don’t have to pay the $100,000 retention bonus. I unofficially count 36 players still in big league camp. [Bryan Hoch]
- Dellin Betances threw an inning in a minor league game. He allowed an unearned run on one hit, throwing 14 of 16 pitches for strikes and sitting 91-94 mph. “I executed my pitches instead of thinking about mechanics. I felt a lot better. I’m definitely going in the right direction,” he said. [Bob Klapisch]
- Mark Teixeira took a pitch to the right knee during a minor league game. He left the game, walked it off, and told reporters he was fine. The Yankees say he has a contusion and no tests are scheduled. Didi Gregorius (wrist) feels better today and expects to be ready for Opening Day. Jared Burton (lat) has resumed playing catch. [Klapisch, Hoch, Dan Barbarisi, Chad Jennings]
- And finally, old buddy Hiroki Kuroda made his first regular season start back with the Hiroshima Carp yesterday. He struck out five and scattered five hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings. Hiroshima won 2-1. Poor Hiroki still can’t get any run support. Here’s some video of his outing.
Here is your open thread for the evening. The Gonzaga-Duke game is going on right now, as is the Islanders game. MLB Network will replay a handful of non-Yankees games tonight as well. You folks know how these threads work by now, so have at it.
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