The next time the Yankees play, the game will count. The rain held off and the Yankees dropped their exhibition finale to the Nationals in Washington tonight. Troy Tulowitzki hit a home run and Greg Bird drove in a run with a Juan Soto-aided double. Soto got all turned around and the ball landed behind him. Brett Gardner had a double down the line. Lots of quick at-bats tonight. Everyone was ready to get on the plane to New York.
Stephen Tarpley waited until final spring outing to allow a run. He gave up a two-run homer to Anthony Rendon. Zack Britton retired both batters he faced and Adam Ottavino struck out one in a 1-2-3 inning. He’s a video game. His stuff moves all over the place. Nestor Cortes allowed a run in 3.1 workmanlike innings. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the notes from the last day of camp:
- Miguel Andujar took a pitch to the ribs tonight, just below the armpit. He lifted his arms to jump out of the way and the ball deflected off his elbow guard and into his ribs. Kinda weird. Andujar was in obvious pain but remained in the game, and Aaron Boone said he’s fine following the game, so there you go. Another injury would’ve been just swell. [Kristie Ackert]
- Dellin Betances (shoulder) played catch today for the first time since being shut down, and everything went well. Luis Severino (shoulder) stretched out his throwing from 90 feet to 120 feet today. I thought today would be a rest day after Severino played catch the last two days, but nope. CC Sabathia (shoulder) has a bullpen session tomorrow. [James Wagner, Coley Harvey]
- Aaron Boone didn’t feel the need to talk to Tyler Wade after he said he was “blindsided” by not making the roster. “Guys are allowed to be upset … I get the frustration and that’s okay. The thing I’ll be looking for is, what’s his response?,” said Boone. [Coley Harvey, Pete Caldera]
- The Orioles officially scratched Alex Cobb (groin) from their Opening Day start. It’ll be Masahiro Tanaka vs. Andrew Cashner on Thursday. The O’s haven’t set their rotation after Cashner. I have to think the Yankees will see Dylan Bundy at some point this weekend. [Roch Kubatko]
Spring Training is officially over. Thank goodness for that. The Yankees went 17-10-4 with one rainout and a +39 run differential in their 32 exhibition games. Up next: Opening Day. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm ET on Thursday, and I imagine the pregame introductions will begin around 12:30pm ET or so. Tanaka vs. Cashner. Game One of 162. Let’s do this.