TAMPA – Andy Pettitte felt so good in his first spring training start that the Yankees let him pitch longer than his scheduled one-inning stint.
Pettitte allowed one hit over 1 2/3 scoreless innings of the Yankees’ 6-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
“It was weird, the first time,” said Pettitte, who struck out two and walked one. “It’s good to get out there, get it cranked up a little bit.”
Pettitte was happy that his pitching shoulder, which gave him problems during the second half last season, was not an issue.
“I probably needed to go on the DL and I didn’t,” he said. “There was nothing serious wrong, but I kept trying to pitch with it and it got weaker, weaker and weaker.”
Pettitte is part of a rotation that added free agents CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Chien-Ming Wang is back from a foot injury that sidelined him for the final 3½ months last season.
“We might have an opportunity to do something special here,” Pettitte said. “It’s going to be fun. Hopefully we can all stay healthy. I just hope I can help them.”
The 36-year-old lefty, who re-signed with the Yankees this offseason for one year and $5.5 million, made his 2009 debut on the same day Alex Rodriguez underwent arthroscopic surgery in Colorado to repair torn cartilage in his right hip. Doctors said they found nothing that would keep him from returning to the lineup in May.
Travis Snider hit a mammoth homer to right off Ian Kennedy during a three-run sixth that gave Toronto a 5-2 advantage. Kennedy allowed five runs and five hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Brett Gardner, competing for the Yankees’ starting center field spot with Melky Cabrera, hit his third homer of the spring – a two-run shot – in the third. He didn’t homer in 127 at-bats with the Yankees last season, and has gone deep nine times in 1,456 career minor league at-bats.
“Might be the last one hit all year,” Gardner joked.