Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Recap: Rays 3, Yankees 0

Chase Whitley surrendered just one earned run in four innings and Andrew Bailey continued his nice spring with a scoreless top of the seventh Wednesday as the Yankees fell to the Rays, 3-0, in a weak offensive contest at Steinbrenner Field.

Whitley Impresses: With the exception of a Desmond Jennings double and a James Loney RBI single to begin the second, Whitley looked sharp in this one -- striking out six Rays in total while allowing just four hits. He didn't issue a walk on the afternoon, and his ERA on the preseason is now a likable 1.17.

Bailey Works Out of Trouble: Bailey walked John Jaso and gave up a single to Tim Beckman in the Rays' half of the seventh, but managed to escape without any damage after a clutch strikeout of Joey Butler. It was Bailey's fourth consecutive outing in which he has kept his opponent off the board -- going back to his March 21 appearances against the Astros.

Ellsbury Returns: Jacoby Ellsbury has been nursing an oblique strain for the last couple of weeks, not playing in an exhibition since March 15. He manned center field and led-off Wednesday, though -- failing to record a hit in three trips to the plate.

Rogers Solid: Esmil Rogers yielded a pair of singles and a walk in 1 1/3 innings of relief, and was charged with an unearned run following a Brendan Ryan error in the sixth. Otherwise, Rogers fanned three and induced a routine ground ball during his four-out performance -- lowering his Grapefruit League ERA to just 2.35.

Starter Stats: As mentioned earlier, this game wasn't a particularly good one for the Yankees' bats, but nonetheless, New York's starters did collect a few hits here and there. Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira laced back-to-back singles in the first off Jordan Norberto, and Brett Gardner ran out an infield knock in the sixth off Jhan Marinez. 

Next Up: The Yankees will split the squad for the final time Thursday when they host the Pirates and visit the Tigers at 1:05 p.m. ET -- airing live on YES and ESPN, respectively. It will be Michael Pineda versus A.J. Burnett in the meeting at The Boss and Bryan Mitchell versus Angel Nesbitt in the matchup over in Lakeland -- Pineda and Mitchell's last starts before the regular season. 

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)