Luis Cessa shines again as the Yankees play to a 1-1 tie with the Blue Jays

Opening Day is just two weeks away! To mark the milestone, the Yankees played through a sleepy Thursday afternoon matinee against the Blue Jays. Luis Cessa looked sharp, and a Miguel Andujar RBI groundout provided the Yankees’ only run of the day as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Check here for the full box score. On to our three takeaways from today’s game:

1. Cessa had another impressive outing. Cessa’s first two frames actually stood out as among the quickest innings I’ve ever seen pitched, as he needed just nine pitches to navigate the first two scoreless. The second inning featured three consecutive groundouts on the first pitch of the at-bat. Cessa finished with four strong innings, yielding no runs on just two hits, striking out three. I’m loath to put much stock in spring numbers, but Cessa’s ERA of 0.69 is tremendously nice. His roster spot is looking more and more secure.
2. Going off the box score, the only hitter to really have any sort of game was Kyle Higashioka. He roped a double and single in two at-bats while no other Yankee had more than one hit, bringing his spring average to .333 and mildly strengthening his (mostly hopeless) case for a spot on the 25-man roster. No other hitter even managed an extra-base hit.
3. This game underscored, perhaps more than any game so far, the point at which spring training starts to glaze over. The Yankees featured very few stars today, and zero pitchers outside of Cessa that figure to make the roster, and though the game wasn’t televised, the relative boredom of the proceedings even seeped through as I followed along on MLB Gameday. There’s only so many listless at-bats from the likes of Billy Burns, Kyle Holder, and Matt Lipka one can sit through before longing for Opening Day. That being said, spring training is important for players to get their feet wet before the important games, and the regular season is just around the corner. We’ll get there soon.

Highlight of the Game

As I mentioned, this game wasn’t televised, but even it was, I’m not sure what could be construed as the highlight. Perhaps Andujar’s lone RBI, or Higashioka’s double.

The exhibition slate rolls along tomorrow afternoon as the Yankees take on the rival Red Sox. Domingo German will square off with Hector Velazquez, and the game will actually be televised. Look forward to that one at 1:05 EST.