Prior pitches on consecutive days
Mark Prior pitched on consecutive days for the first time as he tries to convert to a reliever in his comeback from a series of injuries.
The New York Yankees right-hander threw a scoreless inning Sunday for Class-A Tampa against Lakeland. He walked one during his 20-pitch outing. On Saturday night, he had a strikeout in shutout inning against Detroit's Class-A team.
''That's when the secondary pitches come into play,'' Prior said. ''It was a step forward. My arm feels fine.''
Prior's fastball reached 91 mph in both games, and averaged around 90.
Prior has struggled with shoulder injuries and made his last major league appearance in August 2006. The 30-year old went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 30 starts for the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs in 2003.
He threw two innings in an extended spring training last Wednesday.
Also, Kevin Millwood is scheduled to make his second and possibly final extended spring training start on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old agreed to a minor league deal on March 25 and is expected to join Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this month.
Millwood was 4-16 with a 5.10 ERA last season with Baltimore. He is 159-137 with a 4.11 ERA in 14 big league seasons with Atlanta (1997-02), Philadelphia (2003-04), Cleveland (2005), Texas (2006-09) and Baltimore (2010).