CLEARWATER, Fla. — CC Sabathia’s final outing before starting the second game of the regular season was a rough one.
Pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Buffalo at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa on Thursday, Sabathia was victimized by poor defense and allowed eight runs (three earned), nine hits, two of which were homers, in four innings.
Sabathia threw 63 pitches, fanned three, walked one and hit a batter.
Sabathia told the Associated Press he felt good physically and was ready for his first start of the season and laughed when asked about the game.
“There were a lot of misplays behind him. It’s kind of hard to determine what it was like,’’ said manager Joe Girardi, who didn’t see his No. 2 starter throw. “I’m not worried about it.’’
According to Girardi, veteran players get a clean slate going into the regular season, even if their spring training numbers raise questions.
“It’s hard to predict with veterans what’s going to happen, what a good spring leads to or what a poor spring leads to,’’ Girardi said when asked about Brett Gardner and Chris Carter. “They get the benefit of the doubt because they have a track record.’’
Gardner, who didn’t make the trip to Clearwater, is batting .211 (12-for-57) in 23 games.
Carter, who went 1-for-4 and drove in a run in a 14-1 Yankees win, is hitting .127 (7-for-55) in 21 games.
Most alarming is that Carter has whiffed 26 times after leading the NL in strikeouts with 206 last season. His 41 homers also led the NL.
Adam Warren, who was in the hunt for a rotation spot until the final days of spring training, worked a clean sixth inning and fanned two.
Gary Sanchez was in the middle of a nine-run first inning with a two-run homer. It was Sanchez’s fifth of the spring, two back of team leader Greg Bird.
Many predict the Phillies to finish last in the NL East, and Thursday’s performance reinforced that thinking. No. 2 starter Jerad Eickhoff gave up six runs and four hits before being pulled with two outs in the first.
Rashad Crawford came to the Yankees with Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren and Billy McKinney, the fourth player in the Aroldis Chapman deal last season. Advertised as being very raw and athletic, the left-handed hitting outfielder floated between minor league camp and the big leagues. Thursday he crushed a homer to right.
The Yankees are in Atlanta on Friday to face the Braves in their new ballpark. Michael Pineda will make his final spring training start. Bartolo Colon is scheduled for the Braves.