Paxton sharp in Bomber debut against Blue Jays

TAMPA — James Paxton made his debut in pinstripes Monday with a solid outing. The lefthander pitched two scoreless innings, walking two and striking out two in the Yankees’ 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

“First outing, my goal was to throw a lot of strikes. I didn’t do that in the first inning. The second inning I wanted to come out and really pound the strike zone. I did a better job of that in the second inning,” Paxton said. “Also, I wanted to start to see where I was with my timing. With the added adrenaline, I wanted to feel where my body was at and I feel like I made the adjustment from the first inning to the second inning to slow things down and get everything online.”

Aaron Boone liked what he saw from the Yankees’ marquee offseason acquisition.

“He flashed his stuff,” the Yankees manager said. “He’s probably not as sharp as he’s going to be, but we saw the fastball up and the ability to go in with it and he threw some good breaking balls. First time out, all in all I thought it went pretty well.”

The Yankees picked up Paxton this winter in a trade with Seattle, where he went 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA last season. He struck out 208 in a career-high 160.1 innings.

That move, alongside the re-signings of J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia, give the club three lefties in their rotation and has a former Yankees southpaw thinking about another World Series.

“They stack up well. I thought they had a chance to go all the way last year with the club that they had. Definitely added some depth to the starting rotation that’s not going to do anything but help,” said Andy Pettitte, who on Monday was announced a special adviser to general manager Brian Cashman. “I think they are going to be right there, just like they have been.”

NO ANDUJAR

Third baseman Miguel Andujar has been suffering from flu-like symptoms, Boone said.

“I think he’s all right. He had a little stomach thing the last few days, kind of gone to his head a little bit,” Boone said. “Hopefully just something where a day or two gets him back on track.”