TAMPA, Fla. — Jacoby Ellsbury tripled in his spring training debut, Alex Rodriguez had two hits and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Saturday.
Ellsbury tripled to right-center on his final at-bat after being retired earlier on an infield liner and grounder. The center fielder didn’t make his first appearance until the Yankees’ fourth game to allow for a few extra days of onfield drills.
“All the time you put in, not just the last couple days but the offseason and everything, it’s nice to see results out of the gate,” Ellsbury said.
Rodriguez had a pair of singles and walked. In two games, he is 3 for 4 – including a homer Thursday against Philadelphia on the second pitch he saw – with two walks.
Brennan Boesch and Ryan Lamarre hit home runs for the Red Sox, who didn’t bring David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval on the two-hour trip from Boston’s spring training facility in Fort Myers.
Knuckleballer Steven Wright allowed two runs and five hits in three innings.
• Red Sox left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (right knee) continues throwing on level ground but is not ready to throw off a mound.
• Outfielder Rusney Castillo didn’t make the trip so he could complete his team physical.
Yankees: Right-handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, coming back after having a procedure in October to remove a bone spur on his throwing elbow, will make his first start Sunday against Philadelphia.
NATIONALS: Starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg struck out five, but also allowed a two-run home run to Bryan Holaday in the Nationals’ 8-4 win over Detroit in Viera, Florida.
Former Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann retired eight of the nine batters he faced for Detroit.
BRAVES: Atlanta released right-handed pitchers David Carpenter and Ryan Kelly.
Carpenter was a key reliever on the Braves’ 2013 NL East-winning team, going 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA.
After struggling last season for the Yankees and Nationals, Carpenter returned to Atlanta. But the 30-year-old was cut after pitching one scoreless inning in spring training.
The 27-year-old Kelly pitched in 17 games for the Braves last season, posting a 7.02 ERA.
BLUE JAYS: Outfielder Jose Bautista likely will make his spring training debut on Wednesday against the Rays in Port Charlotte or Thursday against the Yankees in Tampa, Manager John Gibbons said.
The six-time All-Star has been held out of Toronto’s first five exhibition games, as planned, to get more time to work out.
METS: There was a pregame moment of silence in honor of Mets senior director of public relations Shannon Forde, who died Friday night at 44 after a long fight with breast cancer.
ORIOLES: Deering High graduate Ryan Flaherty had two hits and drove in a run in Baltimore’s 13-2 loss to Minnesota in Fort Myers, Florida.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.