The Yankees were no match for the newly-extended Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates today in Bradenton. To celebrate his new six-year contract with Pittsburgh, McCutchen killed the Yankees for two hits and two RBI.
CC Sabathia was given the ball to start the game—his first live game action this spring. He pitched pretty well in two innings of work, allowing three hits and a run while recording one strikeout.
When asked about how he felt, Sabathia responded, “I’ve still got work to do, but my arm feels good and my body feels good.”
He threw 35 pitches over the course of two innings.
Phil Hughes saw his first action of the spring as well, throwing 1 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned), allowing four hits and striking out one.
Although he was slated to go the full two innings, some tough spots prevented Hughes from going any further in the contest.
After having problems with velocity last season, Hughes was consistently clocked at 93 MPH on the radar gun, a very good sign for the Yankees.
Prospect Brett Marshall came on in relief of Hughes and turned in the only scoreless outing of the day for Yankees pitchers. In 1 2/3 innings, Marshall issued one free pass and struck out one.
Graham Stoneburner and Chase Whitley pitched the final three frames of the contest. Combined, they allowed nine hits, four runs and struck out two.
Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira all made the trip to Bradenton for the game, going a combined 3-for-10 with an RBI (Cano).
Second baseman David Adams provided the team with two RBI in his 1-for-2 effort, while Francisco Cervelli added an RBI of his own on his 26th birthday.
Melky Mesa, Ramiro Pena, Chris Dickerson and Justin Maxwell all recorded hits of their own.
Prospect Zoilo Almonte, after going 4-for-4 in the previous three spring games against the Phillies, made an out in his only at-bat after pinch running for Teixeira.
The Yankees are now on their first losing streak of the season, but they should be happy with what they saw today from Phil Hughes.
Hughes put it best today, saying that it would be a “dogfight” for the fifth starter’s job, and he did plenty to impress the club with his outing. Topping at 93 MPH for nearly any pitcher is impressive in the first start of Spring Training, but it is especially noteworthy when that pitcher is Hughes—who battled dead arm for most of last season.
It will be an interesting battle all spring for the job, but it’ll be hard to deny Hughes if his velocity keeps increasing.
The Yankees play again on Wednesday against the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
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