Pirates clobber Yankees

Associated Press

BRADENTON, FLA.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and his staff have made evaluating a pitcher’s performance on more than just statistics a sort of mantra this spring. He stuck to that Sunday.

Take CC Sabathia’s outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates in New York’s 10-5 loss: 57 pitches, 29 strikes, 28 balls.

But here’s what Girardi had to say about Sabathia’s mechanics: “He was very sound today. He was good. He was really good today.”

Sabathia struggled in his first two starts, giving up seven hits and five runs to the Pirates on Tuesday.

On Sunday, he needed 44 pitches to get through four innings — the one mistake a homer to Aki Iwamura. Sabathia left with an out in the fifth after Andy LaRoche lined a single that glanced off his glove.

After his last start, Sabathia said the back end of his motion was collapsing and that he was not at the point where he could make in-game adjustments. But after a productive bullpen Thursday, he had much more success against the Pirates and felt he was turning a corner in preparing for the season.

“Felt more together. Fastball felt crisp. Cutters were good, down in the dirt. Changeup was a lot better,” Sabathia said. “I’m definitely pleased with the progress I made here.”

Overall, he gave up three runs and three hits in 4 1-3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.

Jonathan Albaladejo relieved with two runners on in the fifth and allowed both inherited runners to score plus three runs of his own while getting just two outs. Bobby Crosby had an RBI double and Andrew McCutchen added a two-run double in the inning.

PADRES 5, INDIANS 3

PEORIA, ARIZ.

Chris Young had his second straight solid start in his comeback from a shoulder injury in the San Diego Padres’ win over the Cleveland Indians.

Young, whose season ended in June last year, allowed five hits and two runs over 3 2-3 innings.

Indians starter Aaron Laffey got the first two outs in his scheduled third inning of work, then things fell apart. He was touched for two walks, two doubles and four two-out runs.

“I just lost my control in that inning,” Laffey said. “I wasn’t in the zone. Everything I threw was down. I was scheduled to go three, and I wanted to finish it, but my pitches were dying, and I can’t tell you why.”