Open Thread: March 26th Camp Notes

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 4-3 this afternoon. Bryan Mitchell started and was fantastic again, allowing just one hit in four innings of work. He fanned four. Hard to think he won’t be on the Opening Day roster at this point. Branden Pinder tossed a scoreless frame and three-time Tommy John surgery guy Conor Mullee struck out the side in the ninth for the save. One strikeout per surgery. Mullee was up from minor league camp for the day.

Aaron Hicks led the game off a homer and both Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez had base hits. Ronald Torreyes went 2-for-4 with a double off a wall after just barely missing a home run earlier in the at-bat. The ball sailed just foul. Pete Kozma had a hit as well. His chances of making the team are annoyingly high. Here is the box score, here are the video highlights, and here is the rest of the day’s news from Tampa:

• Jacoby Ellsbury (wrist) took batting practice again today and said he’s good to go for tomorrow’s game. Rob Refsnyder, meanwhile, took a ground ball to the face for the second straight day. This one caught him in the cheek and he’ll see a doctor. The third base experiment is not going too well these days. [Bryan Hoch, Erik Boland, Mark Feinsand]
• Masahiro Tanaka threw a bullpen session with increased intensity today after the team told him to stop holding back. “I heard some people talking about that he did turn it up a little bit today. We think that’s important because we have to get him going too and get him feeling good about himself,” said Joe Girardi. [Chad Jennings]
• Meaningful roster cuts before today’s game: James Pazos and Nick Rumbelow were optioned to Triple-A Scranton, the Yankees announced. That effectively takes them out of the running for Opening Day bullpen spots. Chris Parmelee was sent to minor league camp after the game. The Yankees still have 40 players in camp by my unofficial count.
• The upcoming rotation: Nathan Eovaldi (Sunday on TV) and Luis Cessa (Monday, no TV). The Yankees are playing the Tigers on Monday, and it seems Cessa is getting the start because they don’t want Detroit to see one of the regular starters. The Yankees play the Tigers in the second series of the regular season. [Jennings]
• Dellin Betances pitched an inning in a minor league game today. Shane Hennigan has the day’s minor league lineups, if you’re interested. Aaron Judge hit a grand slam. [Hennigan]

This is your open thread for the night. MLB Network is showing the Giants and Cubs live right now, then they’ll show a bunch of games on tape delay throughout the night. All of the local hockey and basketball teams are in action tonight except the Devils, and there are two March Madness games as well. Talk about those games or anything else right here.