Pimentel off game early in Bucs' Grapefruit finale
Pittsburgh closes out Florida portion of spring slate with loss to Yankees
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Ichiro Suzuki collected three hits and scored two runs Thursday, backing CC Sabathia's four innings of scoreless pitching as the Yankees downed the Pirates, 4-2, at McKechnie Field.
Sabathia allowed three hits without a walk or a strikeout as he completed his preseason work with an ERA of 1.29 over 21 innings. He had blanked the Pirates for seven innings in his previous Grapefruit League start, on Friday.
For the Pirates, it was their final Grapefruit League game in Florida this spring, as they finished play with a record of 14-9-2 and drew 91,046 fans to 12 home games. The average of 7,587 is a new club record, breaking last spring's 6,229.
Ichiro led off the first with a single off Stolmy Pimentel and eventually scored on Mark Teixeira's grounder. The Yankees added another run that inning on Zoilo Almonte's single.
New York doubled its lead to 4-0 in the fourth on RBI singles by Ichiro and Eduardo Nunez.
Up next: The Bucs fly to Philadelphia to meet the Phillies for two exhibitions to close the spring slate, starting with Friday's 7:05 p.m. ET game in Citizens Bank Park. Charlie Morton, scheduled to start the second regular-season game on Wednesday, goes in the opener of this two-game series.