Pittsburgh Pirates 4 – New York Yankees 5 (5 innings – Rain)
Split squad home Yankees hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in half of the games today.
In today’s home game, CC Sabathia was making his seeming final bid for the final spot in the starting rotation and impressed. In the first three innings, CC Sabathia allowed one hit and generated three ground balls, including one for a double play.
After a quiet first inning, the offense sparked in the second. Mark Teixeira led off with a walk and Carlos Beltran delivered his first home run of the spring. Chase Headley followed the home run with a single. Starlin Castro continues swinging the hottest bat of the spring with a double to bring home Headley. After two innings, the Yankees went ahead by three.
CC Sabathia hit a bump in the road in the fourth inning. With two on and two outs, outfielder Jose Osuna hit a single into center field to score two. Sabathia minimized the damage in a strong showing for a spot in the rotation.
In four innings, CC Sabathia allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. The big lefty had his cutter and changeup working in his best start of this spring.
Reliever Nick Goody continues having a difficult spring in an effort to earn a spot in the Yankees bullpen. Jacob Stallings, the first batter Goody faced in the fifth inning, took the righty deep for a solo home run. Josh Harrison followed with a double before Goody got the first out of the inning. Standout reliever Johnny Barbato came in and gave up an inherited runner before getting out of the inning.
The Yankees went down in order in the bottom half of the fifth inning but the rain also continued coming down, enough to delay and ultimately end today’s game early.
Win – CC Sabathia
Loss – Steven Brault
Save – Johnny Barbato
Notables
Pirates
*Jose Osuna – 1 for 2, 2 RBI (6)
*Josh Harrison – 2 for 3, 2B, 3B
Yankees
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 1, R, Two-Run Home Run (1) in the 2nd, 3 RBI (8)
*Starlin Castro – 1 for 2, 2B, RBI (11)
