TAMPA, Fla. — The Twins' double-play combination is here, and Phil Hughes and John Ryan Murphy will form an ex-Yankees battery. But it's a skeleton roster of players the Twins have brought to Steinbrenner Field today for the Twins-Yankees game.
That's understandable, since the Twins have another bus ride, just 30 minutes shorter, tomorrow to Bradenton, so it makes sense to split the roster in half. The Yankees, on the other hand, are using their Opening Day lineup, with the exception of starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
This is Hughes' final start in Florida; he's scheduled to throw five innings or so next Friday in Washington D.C. He'll go six innings or 90 pitches today, with Ryan Pressly and Fernando Abad, both expected to make the Twins' roster, pitching in relief. We also could see Logan Darnell, trying to impress once more before final cuts come Tuesday.
Juan Centeno and Darin Mastroianni are both in the lineup, even though they were assigned to the minor leagues on Saturday.
A couple of former Twins first-round picks are on the traveling roster today, too. Alex Wimmers, the injury-plagued righthander from the 2010 draft, is in the bullpen today, and Levi Michael, the middle infielder chosen in 2011, could play in the late innings.
Here are the lineups for the Easter Sunday game:
TWINS
Santana CF
Nunez 3B
Dozier 2B
Arcia LF
Park 1B
Escobar SS
Centeno DH
Murphy C
Mastroianni RF
Hughes RHP
YANKEES
Ellsbury CF
Gardner LF
Rodriguez DH
Teixeira 1B
McCann C
Beltran RF
Headley 3B
Castro 2B
Gregorius SS
Eovaldi RHP