The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon.  The game took place at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Florida and the final score was 11-5.  Luis Cessa started for the Yankees and he did not pitch well.  Bryan Mitchell and James Kaprielian did pitch well.  Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier, Ronald Torreyes and Starlin Castro each had two hits to lead the offense. 

Cessa pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up six hits and four runs with a walk and two strikeouts.  Ben Heller pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and he struck out two, Mitchell pitched three innings giving up two hits and a run with a walk and five strikeouts and Kaprielian won the game pitching two innings with a walk and three strikeouts.  J.R. Graham pitched a perfect inning, striking out the side. 

Hicks had two hits and an RBI, Frazier had two hits and two RBI and Torreyes had two hits.  Donovan Solano had a hit, Castro had two hits and an RBI and Chris Carter had an RBI and drew a walk.  Tyler Wade had a hit, Billy McKinney had an RBI and drew a walk and Wilken Castillo had a hit and two RBI.  Rob Refsnyder had a hit and an RBI, Ji-Man Choi had a hit and two RBI and Dustin Fowler drew a walk.  Mason Williams had a hit and two RBI, Hicks, Castro, Refsnyder and Frazier each hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.  Mitchell and Tejada each committed an error. 

In the first Carter hit an RBI ground out to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the first Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run single to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.  Melvin Upton Jr. hit an RBI single and it was 3-1 Blue Jays.  In the second Ezequiel Carrera hit an RBI single to extend the Blue Jays lead to 4-1.  In the third Hicks hit a solo homerun to cut the lead to 4-2.  Castro hit a solo homerun in the third and it was 4-3.  In the fourth Refsnyder hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four.  In the sixth Ryan Goins hit an RBI triple to give the Blue Jays back the lead at 5-4.  Frazier hit a solo homerun in the seventh to tie the game at five.  In the eighth Choi hit an RBI groundout and Williams hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead.  McKinney reached on a fielding error in the ninth to make it 8-5 and then Choi hit an RBI single and Williams hit a sac fly with Frazier hitting an RBI single to finish the scoring at 11-5.   

The New York Yankees and New York Mets play to a 4-4 tie

The New York Yankees and New York Mets played to a 4-4 tie on Wednesday afternoon.  The game took place at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida and the final score was 4-4 after the Yankees came back down by two in the ninth inning.  Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and pitched well and other then James Kaprielian who had a rough day all the pitching was good.  Jacob deGrom started for the Mets and pitched well in his spring debut.  Antonio Bastardo had a rough ninth inning to cough up the lead.  Curtis Granderson, Yoenis Cespedes and Kevin Plawecki all led the Mets with two hits each.  Dustin Ackley and Chris Parmelee each had two hits to lead the Yankees offense. 

Nova pitched three innings giving up three hits and no runs with a walk and a strikeout.  Kaprielian pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four htis and four runs with two of them being earned.  He walked two batters and struck out a batter, Nick Goody pitched 1 1/3 innings striking out a batter, Johnny Barbato pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Branden Pinder pitched an inning giving up a hit and he walked two.  Mark Montgomery pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one and Jacob Lindgren pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and he struck out a batter. 

deGrom pitched three innings giving up five hits and a run with two strikeouts.  Jerry Blevins pitched a perfect inning, Addison Reed pitched a perfect inning and Seth Lugo pitched an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one.  Akeel Morris pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run, Jim Henderson pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Bastardo pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs.  Stolmy Pimentel pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. 

Didi Gregorius had a hit, Aaron Hicks had a hit and Chase Headley had a hit and an RBI.  Ackley had two hits, Kyle Higashioka had a hit and an RBI and Parmelee had two hits.  Sebastian Valle had a hit and an RBI, Hicks, Ackley and Parmelee each hit a double.  Higashioka and Valle each hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Gary Sanchez, Jorge Mateo and Lindgren each committed an error. 

Granderson had two hits, Gavin Cecchini had a hit and Cespedes had two hits and an RBI.  Lucas Duda drew a walk, Neil Walker drew a walk and Dilson Herrera drew a walk.  Johnny Monell had a hit, Nevin Ashley had a hit and Alejandro De Aza drew a walk.  Ty Kelly drew two walks, Plawecki had two hits and T.J. Rivera had a hit and two RBI.  Rivera hit a double and the Mets were 4-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. 

In the third Headley hit an RBI single giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the fifth Rivera hit a two run double to give the Mets a 2-1 lead and then Cabrera hit an RBI groundout to make it 3-1 Mets.  Cespedes hit an RBI single to extend the Mets lead to 4-1.  In the seventh a wild pitch cut the lead to 4-2.  In the ninth Higashioka hit a solo homerun and Sebastian Valle hit a solo homerun to tie the game at four which would be the final score after 10 innings. 

The Yankees are now 2-5-1 in the spring and the Mets are 3-3-2.  The Yankees will play in Sarasota on Thursday afternoon against the Baltimore Orioles and they will also play at home in Tampa against the Toronto Blue Jays in a split squad.  The Mets will remain at home and take on the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon. 

New York Yankees spring training notes

Alex Rodriguez homered on the second pitch he saw in his first spring training game of the year on Thursday afternoon.  He said "It caught me by surprise."  He said the biggest thing for him this year is that there are no distractions and that he is clear headed.  He said he will be coming in everyday with a good attitude and understanding he has a purpose.  So far so good with him both on the field and off as he has become somewhat of a leader and kept his nose clean since he came back from suspension last season. 

Jacoby Ellsbury will make his spring debut on Saturday and Joe Girardi said it was Ellsbury who asked for extra time.  They are saying that Ellsbury is perfectly healthy but he wanted a few more days to workout.  He has come down with an injury in the past two spring trainings and maybe they are being extra careful with it, who knows.  Gary Sanchez made a strong first impression, he drew two walks in his first action and looked good behind the plate to Girardi and Ivan Nova who pitched to him. 

Nova pitched two effective innings in his first spring start of the year.  Girardi said " I thought he threw well,"  "He got a lot of ground balls, and that's what you want to see, so that means the sinker was working pretty good.  I think his curveball was a little off today and probably didn't have it today, but he worked on it and that pitch will be there."  Jacob Lindgren was shaky, he just didn't have any control in the game at all. 

Nathan Eovaldi threw a bullpen on Thursday and he is scheduled to start next Thursday.  Chasen Shreve also threw a bullpen.  Brett Gardner had a good day hitting inside for the second day in a row.  Chris Denorfia will make 1 million with another 1 million in incentives if he is on the big league roster.  Jon Heyman reported that. 

I know one game doesn't really mean much but Bryan Mitchell did impress on Friday.  He knows that there are openings in the bullpen and he wants a job out there.  Girardi said " The ability is there.  As I said last year, his role, it was a tough role because there were a lot of days in between pitching and not sure exactly what he was going to do, but the idea is to get him on track.  He has three or four pitches and his cutter was good today.  It's just getting him on track." 

James Kaprielian pitched really well also on Friday afternoon.  Kirby Yates also had a strong outing against three lineup regulars in Detroit.  Austin Romine is still in the conversation for backup catcher and he had another good day.  He was 0-3 at the plate but threw out a runner at second base. 

Gardner had another good day as he is coming along slowly from a bone bruise.  He has had no problems or setbacks.  Pete Kozma who is a backup infielder had indoor batting practice on Friday as he comes back from a lower back injury.  Utility infielder Donovan Solano had to skip the game today because of a tight back.   

New York Yankees are shutout as their pitching shined for the first time

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon in Lakeland, Florida.  Bryan Mitchell started for the Yankees and pitched well.  James Kaprielian and Luis Cessa also impressed in their two scoreless innings each.  Didi Gregorious had a hit and a walk and was robbed of another hit.  Brian McCann and Dustin Ackley each had a hit. 

Mitchell pitched two scoreless innings giving up a walk and striking out two.  Vinnie Pestano pitched an inning giving up a hit and three runs with a walk and two strikeouts, Kirby Yates pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Kaprielian pitched two perfect inning with two strikeouts.  Cessa pitched two innings giving up a hit and striking out two. 

Gregorius had a hit and drew a walk, McCann had a hit and Ackley had a hit.  Kyle Higashioka had a hit, Cesar Puello had a hit and Lane Adams had a hit.  Gregorius hit a double and the Yankees were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. 

In the third inning Miguel Cabrera hit a three run homerun and that accounted for all the scoring in the game.  The Yankees are 1-2 now in the grapefruit league and will play Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field against the Boston Red Sox.