Yankees Spring Training Game 31: CC getting season ready
New York Yankees 4 -- Pittsburgh Pirates 2
With CC Sabathia tabbed as the Opening Days starter, today's start against the Pittsburgh Pirates was just to get ready for the regular season to start already. Sabathia would give up a leadoff single before inducing a double play and pitching a scoreless first inning. He would pitch a great second inning before benefitting from some fine defense by shortstop Dean Anna. After the lead batter got on with a bunt single, Dean Anna would make a great stop to his left to get a force out at second base. A ground ball would get by the right side of Anna but he would make up for that with a great defensive stop to his left one more time, this time for the beginning of a double play.
In four innings, CC Sabathia allowed just three hits and was looking prepared for the games to count.
Ichiro Suzuki led off today for the Yankees and looked like vintage Ichiro. He started with a single the opposite way and advanced to third on a single by Eduardo Nunez. Mark Teixeira would hit a soft ground out to the pitcher but it would score Ichiro from third. Later with two outs, Zoilo Almonte would hit a single to left field to score the second run of the game.
In the fourth inning, Ichiro would get his third hit and brought home Adonis Garcia for the third run of the game. Eduardo Nunez would hit a single to left field that brought home Ichiro and scored the fourth run of the game.
Dellin Betances gets into regular season shape with a scoreless inning after CC's scoreless start. Vidal Nuno and Adam Warren each pitched a scoreless inning today. In the eighth inning, David Phelps struggled in his appearance with two hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs. He would minimize some of the damage with a double play that scored a run. A triple would make it a 4-2 game but Cesar Cabral would come in to bail out Phelps.
Ichiro Suzuki, Eduardo Nunez and Zoilo Almonte had great games with three hits each. Ichiro will likely have a backup outfield job. Eduardo Nunez is competing with Yangervis Solarte and Dean Anna for the backup infield job. Solarte and Anna went scoreless but they worked well in the middle infield.