Drury’s hand OK after getting hit
BRADENTON, Fla. — Brandon Drury’s one-out sizzling line-drive single in his first at-bat in a Yankees uniform was a good way to start. Two innings later, he was fortunate a bone in his left hand wasn’t fractured by a Clay Holmes fastball.
“You get hit in the hand you are a little upset, but it feels good now,’’ said Drury, who iced the hand and wasn’t taken for tests. “When right away it came up and in it scared me at first. I got to first and I could tell that I was good. I got some ice on it and I am 100 percent.’’
Acquired from the Rays with the belief the 25-year-old Drury could be the Yankees’ starting third baseman, manager Aaron Boone was initially concerned there was damage.
“You always hold your breath with players, especially early in spring. I talked to him, he is fine,’’ Boone said.
Miguel Andujar replaced Drury and went 1-for-3 and scored a run.
“Control the strike zone’’ could be affixed to bumpers of Yankees fans.
“Controlling the strike zone is one of the things I will pound in with the guys,’’ Boone said. “We want to be a team that gets really, really good and really laser focused, especially in 3-2 counts. Kind of equate it to third-down conversations, third-and-2, 3-and-2, we want to win those, on both sides. It’s something we’re trying to really focus on.’’ Giancarlo Stanton had a scheduled off day Saturday. Not only didn’t he travel, Stanton didn’t take BP outdoors with the players who were left back in Tampa.
According to Boone, Stanton isn’t injured but going through a spring training program that includes light days.
Because Boone hasn’t announced a Yankees starter beyond Monday, the first-year manager was asked if he was leery of throwing a pitcher against AL East foe Toronto on Tuesday in Dunedin.
“Early on in camp it’s not a huge deterrent for us because guys are so vanilla in what they are doing,’’ Boone said before Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Pirates at LECOM Park. “It’s more about getting their work in. You are not really sequencing or anything like you normally would. I would say very early in camp, that’s not a huge consideration.’’
Boone started Luis Cessa in the first game against the Tigers and Domingo German on Saturday against the Pi
rates. Jordan Montgomery starts Sunday against the Phillies in Clearwater, and Sonny Gray goes Monday night against the Phillies in Tampa.
Boone said Thairo Estrada and Albert Abreu are sporting happier faces as they recover from a gunshot wound and appendectomy, respectively.
“He had a better smile [Friday],’’ Boone said of Estrada, who was shot in the right hip in late January during a robbery attempt in his native Venezuela. “Just in talking with him the last couple of days, he feels like a little more progress has been made.’’
Boone said there are no plans to remove the bullet at this point and said at this point it was too early to predict if the shortstop would be ready for the start of the minor league season.
“I think that’s probably an optimistic look at it,’’ Boone said. “And there is no chance we are going to push it too much with him.’’
Dellin Betances threw a simulated game at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa on Saturday morning.