Michael Pineda started and he was excellent, fanning eight in five perfect innings. I know the Phillies kinda stink, but his slider was razor sharp. Pineda would have carved up most lineups with the stuff he had tonight. Aroldis Chapman tossed a scoreless frame and Chad Green closed things out by allowing one run in three innings. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here’s the rest of the day’s news from Tampa:
- Austin Romine left tonight’s game with a right hand injury. A wild pitch bounced in the dirt and clipped his hand. Romine had his hand behind his back, but the ball managed to bounce under his leg and jump up to get his hand. Go figure. Here’s the video. The Yankees haven’t announced an update yet. Hopefully it’s just a bad bruise or something. Update: The Yankees say x-rays came back negative on Romine’s hand. Exhale.
- Veteran free agent right-hander Ernesto Frieri was in the clubhouse before the game and he’s expected to sign a minor league contract with the Yankees, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. He pitched for Colombia in the World Baseball Classic after not playing anywhere last year. PitchFX says Frieri’s fastball averaged 95.0 mph during the WBC. [Jack Curry]
- Another round of roster cuts were announced: Johnny Barbato, Dietrich Enns, and Gio Gallegos were optioned to Triple-A, Miguel Andujar was optioned to Double-A, and Chance Adams was sent to minor league camp. There are 48 players still in big league camp by my unofficial count.
- Gleyber Torres has started working out at third base. He’s not expected to play there this spring, but he is getting familiar with the position. It was only a matter of time. [David Lennon]
- Bad news, folks: James Kaprielian will make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow, not Friday. Tomorrow’s game will not be televised. Friday’s will be. Lame. Lame lame lame. [Erik Boland]
- Bryan Hoch has the pitching assignments and hitting/fielding groups for everyone who didn’t play in tonight’s game. CC Sabathia threw a bullpen session and Adams threw a simulated game.
- And finally, the Yankees announced Chris Carter was scratched from tonight’s game because he’s been traded to the Angels for Mike Trout. Or because he was sick. I forget. It was one of those.
The Yankees will be on the road to play the Blue Jays tomorrow afternoon and again, that game will not be televised. Hopefully Kaprielian gets into another game at some point before the end of spring. Time’s running out. Both Bryan Mitchell and Luis Cessa line up to pitch tomorrow.