Liriano bests Severino in Grapefruit duel

March 3rd, 2017

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- homered for the second time in as many games and Ryan McBroom launched a walk-off blast in the ninth inning, lifting the Blue Jays to a 3-2 Grapefruit League victory over the Yankees on Friday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
Bautista has been locked in early in the spring, and he continued his hot hitting in the first inning against Yankees starter , knocking a two-run homer to right-center field. Bautista also rapped a hard single off the right-hander in his next at-bat.
"It's a good feeling to contribute and kind of swing the bat and see the ball and make some solid contact early on," Bautista said. "But it is Spring Training. It really means nothing other than that. I just hope to be ready as I [am] now when the season starts, and hopefully that's the way it's gonna be."

's two-run single off the Blue Jays' with one out in the ninth tied the game before McBroom cleared the left-field fence facing .

made his first start of the spring for Toronto, striking out three in two scoreless innings. The left-hander permitted two hits without a walk.
In his second spring start as he competes for a spot in New York's rotation, Severino scattered four hits over 2 1/3 innings, fanning four with a walk.
"He threw a bunch of changeups today, he threw his slider, his fastball was good," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He made a mistake, but we've seen Bautista do that a lot in his career. I thought it was progress."

went 2-for-3 batting third in the Yankees' lineup before being lifted in the bottom of the sixth.
Yankees Up Next: The Yankees are on the road Saturday, visiting the Tigers in Lakeland, Fla., for a 1:05 p.m. ET contest. It can be heard on Gameday Audio. will make his first start of the spring, pitching behind a Yankees lineup that is slated to feature , Greg Bird, and . will also appear for New York.
Blue Jays Up Next: The Blue Jays will travel to Ft Myers, Fla., on Saturday to play the Twins at 1:05 p.m. ET in a game that can be watched on MLB.TV. will make his third appearance of the spring and his second start. The notables in the Blue Jays' lineup include , , and .
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