Adams tosses scoreless inning in return to mound

TAMPA, Fla. -- Phillies reliever Mike Adams took an important step in his recovery from right shoulder surgery, pitching a scoreless inning in Tuesday's 6-0 win against the Yankees in his Grapefruit League debut.

Adams entered in the fifth inning and faced the top of the Yankees' lineup, surrendering a pair of soft hits to Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter and striking out Mark Teixeira with a backdoor cutter to end the frame. Adams kept the ball down in the strike zone and made 16 pitches.

"Overall, it went real well," said Adams, who hopes to join the Phillies two weeks into the regular season. "It was very nerve-racking at first. But once I settled down and kind of caught my breath a little bit, fundamentally, my mechanics kind of came together and I started making quality pitches."

For Adams, it was his first Major League action in over nine months. He had thoracic outlet surgery on July 31 and missed the final 92 games last season, his first with the Phillies. Before Tuesday, Adams had not appeared in a big league game since June 19.

"It's been a long time and I'm real happy to see him back," catcher Carlos Ruiz said. "I think he was real good, and that's big for us."