IN EARLY RETURNS, GAMES SHORTER

By the time Cubs outfielder Brennen Davis actually saw a pitch from Arizona’s Joe Mantiply, the count was already at a ball and a strike.

Both the hitter and pitcher were penalized at the start of Davis’ at-bat to lead off the top of the third inning of Monday’s spring training game, the latest odd twist in baseball’s speed-up rules. After Mantiply entered the game as a reliever, he took too long to throw his warmup pitches; then Davis was too slow to get ready for the pitch.

Major League Baseball approved its first pitch clock this season, and every day is a new experience for the players as they try to get used to them this spring. On Saturday, Boston’s game against Atlanta ended on a walk-off automatic strike; on Sunday, Mets ace Max Scherzer struck out Washington’s Joey Meneses in just 27 seconds.

“I like the idea of games being shorter,” Marlins reliever Matt Barnes said. “In Boston, we played a nine-inning, four-and-a-half-hour game against New York on a Tuesday. That’s not fun. So I like the idea of it being quicker.”

So far, it’s working. The new rules, which also limit the number of times a pitcher can throw to first base, have helped cut more than 20 minutes from spring training games through the first weekend, dropping from an average of 3 hours, 1 minute last spring to 2:39.

“It’s here, and we have to abide by the rules, and we have to learn how to do it,” Barnes said. “I’ll just have to figure out my routine, adjust my routine a little bit and kind of go from there.”

Average ’22 salary: $4.22M

Major League Baseball’s average salary rose 14.8 percent to a record $4.22 million last year after the end of the lockout, boosted by big deals for Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.

The rate of increase was the highest since a 17.7 percent increase in 2000 to $1.61 million, according to final calculations by the players’ association.

The average had dropped each of the previous four seasons before ’22, sparking anger expressed by the union during a 99-day lockout that ended last March.

Astros combo debuts

Houston’s star infielders Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña made their exhibition season debuts in a 4-3 loss to the Marlins in West Palm Beach, Fla. Both were hitless in three at-bats apiece, but they turned a double play in the fourth.

Peña batted .345 in the postseason last year, and was the first rookie position player to win the World Series MVP. He also won a Gold Glove and was the AL Championship Series MVP.

Astros manager Dusty Baker said he hopes to play Altuve and Peña together as much as possible during spring training before the World Baseball Classic starts. Altuve will play for Venezuela, Pena for the Dominican Republic.

“Those guys, they have to really know each other,” Baker said. “Especially now, going back to the new defenses, they really have to know the range of each guy and where they are on double plays.”

Notable

The Toronto Blue Jays have hired former Astros General Manager James Click to be their new vice president of baseball strategy. Click helped build the Houston teams that went to three straight AL Championship Series and back-toback World Series, winning it all last year.

But he clashed with owner Jim Crane, and the Astros did not bring him back. It’s believed to be the first time a World Serieswinning GM did not return since 1947, when the Yankees’ Larry MacPhail was replaced by George Weiss.

•Manager Aaron Boone said there will be no pitch clock in use when the Yankees play Tampa Bay at Disney’s ESPN Wide World Sports today because the facility isn’t equipped for it.