The Yankees and Pirates square off tonight in New York's second straight evening spring training game. CC Sabathia takes the ball for the Yankees opposite Edinson Volquez for Pittsburgh. Tonight's lineup consists mainly of regulars minus Jacoby Ellsbury and with Ichiro Suzuki batting ninth as the DH (oh, spring training).
Per Chad Jennings at LoHud, here are the players expected to come into the game after the usual suspects depart:
· Today’s second string: C John Ryan Murphy, 1B Russ Canzler, 2B Yangervis Solarte, SS Dean Anna, 3B Zelous Wheeler, LF Zoilo Almonte, CF Antoan Richardson, RF Adonis Garcia
· Today’s scheduled relievers:David Herndon, Matt Thornton, Shawn Kelley and Dave Robertson (with Danny Burawa, Shane Greene and Fred Lewis available if necessary)
Joe Girardi acknowledged today that the setback Brendan Ryan experienced yesterday with his upper back spasms would put his Opening Day status in question. That should put all eyes on Solarte and Anna to try and work their way onto the 25-man roster over the final week of spring training.
You can watch tonight's game on MLB.tv or on MLB Network. Unfortunately, there is no television coverage on YES.