BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — CC Sabathia struggled while pitching into the fifth inning of his third spring start, giving up a home run to Aki Iwamura in the New York Yankees’ 10-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Sabathia left after Andy LaRoche lined a one-out single to center that glanced off his glove and put runners on first and second. Sabathia threw first-pitch balls to 12 of his 17 batters and only 29 of his 57 pitches for strikes.
The Yankees’ ace allowed three runs, three hits, two walks and struck out two.
Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton, on the other hand, bounced back from a difficult outing against New York on Tuesday to limit the Yankees to a hit over four innings.
The Pirates got two homers and three RBIs from Bobby Crosby, who entered in the third after Ronny Cedeno departed with a cut to his right hand.
