TAMPA, Fla. Corey Kluber occasionally overcame wildness and allowed two runs and four strokes over four overs in his second spring, and the New York Yankees beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-5 on Saturday.
Kluber is a two-time winner of the Cy Young Award with his third team in three years. He has thrown just one official inning since being hit on the right forearm by a comebacker in May 2019 and tore a muscle in his right shoulder in July last year.
Kluber hit two batsmen, threw a wild field and Troy Stokes Jr. a third solo homer allowed. He hit two in an outing in which the Pirates were only in order once.
“Some pitches could probably be a little better, a little sharper,” Kluber said. “The home run, first pitch, left it a little too much on the plate. Definitely a few things to work on. Fining of place, stuff like that.
“I was happy with the way I felt physically.”
The right hand allowed a lead double and struck a batter in the first innings, but came out of the jam with a double play. After a perfect second, Kluber Stokes’ homer gave up and then avoided further damage by working out a two-to-one out-of-situation situation.
Kluber, who turns 35 in April, struck three over two perfect overs in his other start on March 3 against Toronto. He had a live batting practice five days later.
After the Yankees lost in a series of five games to U.S. league champions Tampa Bay Rays last year, the Yankees allowed Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton and JA Happ to become free agents. They signed Kluber for a $ 11 million one-year contract and acquired Jameson Taillon for four prospects from Pittsburgh.
“Looks like himself,” second baseman DJ LeMahieu told the Yankees. “Ball moves everywhere.”
New York’s projected rotation also includes bait Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Deivi Garcia and Domingo German are among the candidates for the fifth frontrunner.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.