TAMPA, Florida – Corey Kluber overtook the occasional savagery, allowing two runs and four hits in four innings in the second spring start, and the New York Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5 on Saturday.
Kluber is a two-time Cy Young Award winner, along with his third team in three years. He has thrown only one official inning since being hit on the right forearm by a returnee in May 2019 and broke a muscle in his right shoulder in his Texas debut in July last year.
Kluber hit two hits, threw a wild pitch and allowed a solo homer on Saturday in the third half at Troy Stokes Jr. He broke two in an outing in which the Pirates went down in order only once.
“Some pitches could probably have been a little better located, a little clearer,” Kluber said. “The first action, the first step, left him a little too much on the set. Definitely a few things to work on. The fine-tuning place, things like that.
“I was happy with the way I felt physically.”
The right allowed a double lead and hit a batter in the first half, but came out of the block with a double play. After a perfect second, Kluber gave up Stokes’ free kick and then avoided further damage by working from a two-to-one situation.
Kluber, who turns 35 in April, eliminated three or two perfect innings in his other start on March 3 against Toronto. Five days later, he had a live beating practice session.
After losing to eventual champions Tampa Bay Rays in a five-game series last year, the Yankees allowed Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and JA Happ to become free agents. They signed Kluber for a one-year, $ 11 million contract and bought Jameson Taillon from Pittsburgh for four prospects.
“He looks like himself,” said DJ LeMahieu, the second member of the Yankees. “Ball is moving everywhere.”
New York’s planned rotation also includes Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Deivi Garcia and Domingo German are among the candidates for the fifth place holder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.