The Yankees opened their exhibition schedule with loss to the Red Sox this afternoon. Gleyber Torres swatted a home run (video), plus Aaron Hicks, Greg Bird, Tyler Wade, Matt Lipka, and Trey Amburgey all banged doubles. All legit doubles too. No bloops that landed on the line. Bird drove one off the wall the other way, Hicks hit one over the center fielder’s head, and Wade and Lipka found the right-center field gap. Ryan McBroom hit a home run as well. Bird added a single, as did Clint Frazier.
Nestor Cortes got the start and had a good first inning and not-so-good second and third innings. He was charged with four runs in 2.2 innings, though Drew Hutchison had a hand in that. He inherited two runners from Cortes and gave up a three-run homer. Joe Harvey, who ostensibly has a chance at an Opening Day bullpen spot, got roughed up for two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. Won’t help his cause. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are today’s notes from camp:
- Back in Tampa, Luis Severino and J.A. Happ were among those to throw a simulated game. Here’s video of Severino vs. Luke Voit, Severino vs. Troy Tulowitzki, and Happ vs. Aaron Judge. Simulated game today means we can rule out Severino and Happ pitching in a spring game for a few days.
- Aaron Boone reiterated Luke Voit and Bird won’t platoon at first base. It’ll be one or the other. Boone added he believes Bird is the better defensive first baseman (I agree with that), but said Voit has made strides this spring. [Brendan Kuty, Coley Harvey]
- Boone also singled out Frazier for his improved defense. He’s been working with the outfield coaches early this spring. “I like today, for example, him backing up a throw in the infield. That’s just kind of a heady, into the game, little thing that you like to see out of the young player,” said Boone. [Brendan Kuty]
- The upcoming rotation: Jonathan Loaisiga on Sunday, James Paxton on Monday, and Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday. All three games will be televised live. No word on the rotation beyond Tuesday yet. [Bryan Hoch]
The Grapefruit League season continues tomorrow against the Rays. Not sure who will be on the trip other than Loaisiga and Frazier. Frazier’s tentatively scheduled to DH. That’s another 1:05pm ET game. MLB Network and MLB.tv will both air it live. No blackouts again.
Update: Bryan Hoch has tomorrow’s travel roster. DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit, Austin Romine, Estevan Florial, and Trevor Stephan are among those making the trip.