A ninth inning comeback fell short against the Pirates this afternoon. Danny Farquhar made his Grapefruit League debut and got hammered (five runs and one out), but who cares? It’s Spring Training and the guy nearly died last year. Farquhar’s family was in attendance and the crowd gave him a nice hand as he walked off the field. “Obviously the results weren’t great, but I’d call it a good day. I’ve never been high-fived so much for giving up five runs in my career,” he told Bryan Hoch after the game.
Luis Cessa started and allowed one run in three innings. He struck out four. Troy Tulowitzki, Greg Bird, Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar, and Estevan Florial (two) all banged doubles. Tulowitzki and Bird have been great in the early going. Hopefully it lasts. Andujar had a single in addition to his double. Tyler Wade had a tough game, going 0-for-4. His lost 208 points of batting average in one day (.625 to .417). Here is the box score and here are today’s notes from Tampa:
- Didi Gregorius (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to see the doctor at some point in the next ten days. If everything checks out okay, he could be cleared to start swinging a bat two-handed. “Everything has gone really well,” said Aaron Boone. Sir Didi would start with dry swings and tee work, then progress from there. So far, so good though. [George King]
- Lefty relief prospect Phil Diehl exited today’s game after taking a line drive to the upper back. He said he’s fine after the game except for the seams imprinted on his skin. Ouch. “He’s a tough kid. He’s fearless. I wasn’t surprised when I went out there and he’s like, ‘I’m fine,’ with a smile on his face. But he’s been one of those guys who’s really shined for us. He’s opened up some eyes,” said Boone. Diehl’s fanned seven of the 12 batters he’s faced this spring. [Lindsey Adler, Erik Boland]
- Tommy Kahnle struck out all three batters he faced last night and Boone said he looks better now than he did at any point last year. His fastball was 95-97 mph last night, which is promising given that it is still early in Spring Training and his heater averaged 95.5 mph last year. [Bryan Hoch]
- Boone said Cessa has a “real opportunity” to make the Opening Day roster as a long man. I’d like to see what he could do as one-inning air-it-out guy, but long reliever it is. Cessa would have to pass through waivers to go to Triple-A, which may factor into the roster decision. [Bryan Hoch]
- Luis Severino will indeed make his Grapefruit League debut Tuesday. The Yankees held him back a bit this spring after his big workload the last two years. Tuesday’s start lines Severino up perfectly for Opening Day with an extra day of rest between each spring start. [Erik Boland]
- The Yankees will have their infielders carry cards with positioning notes this year. Outfielders have done it for years. Now infielders will too. The Yankees were positioned well last year. Their numbers with the shift were pretty good. Boone called the cards a “little safety net” more than anything because communication from the dugout comes first. [Brendan Kuty]
The Yankees have a pair of split squad games tomorrow afternoon and, thankfully, both games will be televised live. It’s been almost a full week since the last Yankees broadcast. Masahiro Tanaka is starting at home against the Tigers while Domingo German gets the ball on the road against the Blue Jays.