TAMPA, Fla. – Corey Kluber overcame occasional wildness and gave up two runs and four hits over four innings in his 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 with his third team in three years. He’s only pitched one official inning since he was hit in the right forearm by a comebacker in May 2019 and torn a muscle in his right shoulder during his Texas debut last July.
Kluber hit two batters, threw a wild pitch and gave up a solo homer in the third inning to Troy Stokes Jr. on Saturday. He struckout two batters in a performance in which the Pirates were killed only once in a row.
“Some fields could probably have been localized a little better, could have been a little sharper,” said Kluber. “The homerun, first pitch, left it a little too much for the plate. Certainly a few things to work on. Location tuning, that sort of thing.
“I was happy with how I felt physically.”
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 homer to Stokes and then avoided further damage by working out of a two-on-one-out situation.
Kluber, who turns 35 in April, threw three more than two perfect innings in his other start on March 3 against Toronto. Five days later, he had a live batting practice session.
After losing to eventual champion of the American League Tampa Bay Rays in a five-game division last year, the Yankees allowed Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and JA Happ to become free agents. They signed Kluber to a one-year $ 11 million contract and acquired Pittsburgh-based Jameson Taillon for four potential clients.
“Looks like himself,” said Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu. “The ball moves everywhere.”
New York’s planned rotation also includes ace Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Deivi Garcia and Domingo German are among the candidates for fifth place on the grid.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.