CLEARWATER, Fla. — Cody Bellinger hit a ball Wednesday that looked like it was going to fly back to Tampa for his third home run of the spring.
And it still wasn’t the most impressive ball hit by a Yankee at BayCare Ballpark.
That belonged to Ben Rice, who smoked an offering from Taijuan Walker for his fifth home run of the spring, coming off the bat at 110.3 mph.
“[Rice is] controlling every at-bat, it seems, and hitting the absolute s–t out of the ball,” Bellinger said. “That ball today was hit really hard.”
Strengthening his campaign to get a large share of the DH at-bats to start the season, Rice clubbed one of four homers the Yankees hit in a 9-7 win over the Phillies, along with Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Pablo Reyes.
He also drew two walks and finished the day batting .283 with a .974 OPS through 15 games this spring.
“It’s fun to watch,” Bellinger said. “Fun to watch him work, and it seems as if he has a really good idea of what he wants and what he wants to accomplish.”
Bellinger, meanwhile, continued his own strong spring with a 2-for-4 showing, now hitting .475 (19-for-40) with a 1.348 OPS.
“I like where I’m at,” Bellinger said. “Just making day-by-day adjustments depending on how I feel and really like where my consistency is at. Just stay right there.”
The Yankees are targeting Friday for Paul Goldschmidt (back) to return to the lineup if he gets through baseball activities OK on Thursday.
The veteran first baseman has not played since exiting Monday’s game after two at-bats.
Facing what looked like the Opening Day Phillies lineup, Marcus Stroman threw three scoreless innings on 64 pitches while generating plenty of weak contact.
He got into a handful of deep counts that led to the high pitch count, but held the Phillies to just one hit and two walks while striking out three.
“I feel like I was making pretty quality pitches today because I didn’t see many barrels,” Stroman said. “To keep it off the barrel to that lineup is very hard to do. I’m more of a pitcher and an artist, and I’m trying to live in that shadow zone of the box. When I’m executing in that area, I have pretty good success.”
Manager Aaron Boone said stuff-wise, it was Stroman’s best start of the spring.
“Obviously a pretty good lineup to go through and a lot of uncomfortable swings, which is encouraging,” Boone said.
Jasson Domínguez went 3-for-4 with an RBI double, with his three hits coming off the bat at 108.8 mph, 107.8 mph and 105.7 mph, all off Walker.
Mark Leiter Jr. threw live batting practice Wednesday at the club’s minor league complex.
He was slowed last week by a back spasm and has not pitched in a game since March 6, but has insisted he will be ready to start the season on time.
After Wednesday night’s game, the Yankees optioned infielder Jorbit Vivas to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
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