YGY Recap: Yankees’ Bullpen Falters in 10-6 Loss To Blue Jays

Mar 26, 2014; Dunedin, FL, USA; New York Yankees pitcher

(40) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Park. (Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

This afternoon, in Dunedin, Florida, the Yankees’ bullpen got roughed up in a 10-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Most of the regulars played today as we get closer and closer to the start of the regular season.

The Yankees’ offense was able to figure out knuckleballer R.A Dickey early on in the game. In the first inning, Kelly Johnson lined a base hit to right field that scored Derek Jeter and Carlos Beltran to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. New York tacked on four more runs in the second inning on a RBI doubles by Dean Anna and a two-run double from Beltran. Alfonso Soriano would add a sacrifice fly to give New York a 6-0. That would be the only runs they would score in the ball game.

New York had Canadian Chris Leroux on the mound today against Toronto. Leroux went three innings while giving up two runs on five hits. Third baseman Brett Lawrie hit a homer off of Leroux in the bottom of the second inning to put Toronto on the board. In the following inning, Edwin Encarnacion hit a single to left field to score former Yankee Melky Cabrera.

In the fifth inning, the Blue Jays’ offense would explode to put up a eight spot against Yankee pitching. In that inning, Cabrera drove in two runs in two at-bats, Lawrie tacked on another RBI with a double, and the team got RBI singles from Adam Lind and Maicer Izturis. The eight runs were scored against Fred Lewis and Preston Claiborne. For Claiborne, he gave up six runs on four hits without even getting an out.

This is not a good sign for Claiborne, who was a versatile part of the Yankees’ bullpen a season ago. This spring, he has given up nine runs on 14 hits in 5.2 IP. He has an ERA of 14.29, which is the third worst earned run average of any Bronx Bombers’ pitcher this spring. 

It did not help Claiborne’s case that Dellin Betances had another good outing today (no hits, one strikeout). Brett Cecil got his second win of the spring for the Blue Jays.

The Yankees will be heading to Bradenton, Florida to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday afternoon at 1:05 ET on YES. C.C. Sabathia will make his final start of the spring against Stolmy Pimentel for the Pirates.

In other Yankees’ news, Jacoby Ellsbury played in a minor league game for the second consecutive day. He played five innings in center field and went 1-4 with a RBI. Closer David Robertson also made an appearance in the game against the Pirates, giving up one run on two hits in 2/3 of an inning.