Observations of the Yankees’ 13-12 spring training loss to the Phillies on Thursday.
Everything rises
It took a while, but Aaron Judge arrived on the first day of spring with a first shot that left out the tiki bar on the left against left-hander Matt Moore. Clint Frazier said the judge struck one of the batsmen’s eyes at BayCare Ballpark during the batting practice. “Being a guy hitting behind Aaron in batting practice is a difficult act to follow.”
Dethroned
Michael King said he had “no feeling” for his releases and proved it. The right-hander hit three batters and allowed seven runs in two innings during an outing that saw him pull twice from the innings. Spring training rules allow pitchers to re-enter games to increase their number of pitches.
It caught my eye
Former Yankee Didi Gregorius made a fantastic sliding catch in a shallow center in Giancarlo Stanton’s pop-up window at the top of the first. Gregorius had a solid recovery season with the Phillies and Joe Girardi a year ago.
Friday schedule
Gerrit Cole will get his final spring start when the Yankees host Baltimore at 6:35 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field.