TAMPA, Florida – Corey Kluber occasionally overcame a wild one and gave up two runs and four hits in four innings in his second start, and the New York Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5 on Saturday.
Kluber, who has won two Cy Young Awards, is part of his third team in three years. He’s only pitched one inning since a line hit him in the right forearm in May 2019 and tore a muscle in his right shoulder during his Texas Rangers debut last July.
Kluber hit two batters, threw a wild pitch and gave up a solo homerun on Saturday in the third inning for Troy Stokes Jr. He struckout two batters in a performance in which the Pirates were okay only once.
“Some fields could probably have been placed a little better, a little sharper,” said Kluber. “The homerun, the first pitch, it left him too much on the plate. Certainly some things to work on. Adjusting the placement, things like that.”
“I was happy with how I felt physically,” he said.
The righthanded man gave up a leadoff double and hit a batter in the first inning, but got out of trouble with a double play. After a perfect second, Kluber gave up the homerun to Stokes Jr. and prevented further damage by resolving a two-for-one-out situation.
Kluber, who turns 35 in April, struckout three batters in two perfect innings in his other start on March 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Five days later, he had a live hitting practice session.
After losing to eventual American League champion Tampa Bay Rays in a five-game Division Series last year, the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and JA Happ lost to free agents. They signed Kluber to a one-year deal for $ 11 million and acquired Pittsburgh-based Jameson Taillon for four potential clients.
“He looks like himself,” said Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu, “the ball is moving everywhere.”
New York’s planned rotation also includes ace Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Deivi García and Domingo Germán are among the candidates for the fifth starting position.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.