The Yankees beat the Braves this evening. Masahiro Tanaka was on top of his game, striking out seven and allowing one run on two hits and a walk in five innings. He has one more tune-up start before Opening Day. Adam Ottavino, who’s had a sneaky bad spring, allowed three runs on two hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning. Time to panic? Nah. Wait until he does that a few times during the regular season.
Offensively, Luke Voit (home run) and Aaron Judge (triple) led the way. Judge is still looking for his first single this spring. Nothing but extra-base hits so far. Brett Gardner and DJ LeMahieu had one single apiece, Tyler Wade doubled, and Austin Romine had three base hits. Another good Grapefruit League game. The Yankees won and everyone made it out in one piece. Here is the box score and here are the day’s notes from Tampa:
- In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with Gio Gonzalez. Brian Cashman called it a “verbal understanding” and said he’s not sure when Gonzalez will be MLB ready. Gio will join the Yankees in the coming days. [Erik Boland, George King, Joel Sherman]
- Estevan Florial (wrist) will wear a hard cast for a few weeks and Aaron Boone didn’t have an exact timetable for his return. Florial actually has two fractures in his wrist, but the second fracture is small and won’t require as much time to heal as the main fracture. [Brendan Kuty]
- When will Jacoby Ellsbury (hip) rejoin the Yankees? “The timetable is ‘As soon as possible.’ It’s hard to give an exact day or week, but we’re doing everything. I’m in baseball activity, so that’s the good news,” he said. Ellsbury reported to camp yesterday to continue his rehab. [Ken Davidoff]
- The Yankees have back-to-back games on the other side of Florida on Wednesday and Thursday. Usually they have a group of players stay overnight rather than make the long bus trip back and forth. Miguel Andujar, Greg Bird, Clint Frazier, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, Luke Voit, and Tyler Wade are all making the trip. [Coley Harvey]
- Conor Foley has the day’s minor league camp workout groups. Reminder: These are only spring workout groups. They are not regular season assignments. Here is video of Deivi Garcia and personal favorite Tanner Myatt from today’s games.
- And finally, MLB is testing out a new device that allows the pitcher and catcher to communicate through watches. The Yankees tried it out last week and some said it slowed everything down. Meh, no harm in trying. [Jesse Dougherty, James Wagner]
The Grapefruit League season continues tomorrow afternoon with a home game against the Rays. Luis Cessa is the scheduled starting pitcher. Tomorrow’s game will be televised live.