TAMPA, Fla. -- The pressure is rising for the contenders as the Yankees attempt to trim the competition for their vacant rotation spots.
Viewed as a strong candidate to grab the No. 4 slot, Bryan Mitchell did not help his case in Sunday's 7-4 Grapefruit League victory over the Rays, getting into long counts, hitting a batter and issuing a pair of full-count walks as he threw 32 pitches in a three-run third inning.
"That's just me beating myself," Mitchell said. "That's going back to me just putting too much pressure on myself there and trying to make perfect pitches. It stings a little bit right now, especially because I felt good about walks throughout the whole Spring Training. I was controlling them pretty well, I thought."
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi participated in a lengthy meeting before Sunday's game in which they discussed various permutations of the 25-man roster they could field on Opening Day, which is just one week away, against these same Rays on April 2 at Tropicana Field.
"We're narrowing it down, we are," Girardi said. "We haven't made any final decisions yet. We're kind of letting these guys go through their last turn before we make a decision. You kind of look at the body of work and then we make a decision."
Though the Yankees won't need a fifth starter until April 16, hammering out the fourth starter will not be an easy call.
Girardi said that non-roster invitee Jordan Montgomery will start again on Wednesday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla., as the left-hander continues to be very much in the mix, even though he is not on the 40-man roster and has pitched just 37 innings at the Triple-A level.
Luis Severino, once viewed as the favorite for a rotation slot, will have another opportunity to start on Thursday against the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla. Severino has struggled with command at times, and his best outing of the spring came against Philadelphia as a reliever his last time out.
Chad Green struck out eight but served up three runs, including a homer, in four innings of a chain-link game against the Pirates' Class A Bradenton lineup on Sunday afternoon. Adam Warren is the only lock in the group to make the team, and he very well could go north as a reliever.
Back at Steinbrenner Field, Mitchell permitted three runs and six hits in his seventh appearance and fifth start, touched in the third inning by Brad Miller's two-run single to center field. Albertin Chapman permitted an inherited run charged to Mitchell in the fourth inning when second baseman Ruben Tejada dropped a potential double-play ball.
Arguably the best pitcher in Yankees camp a year ago, Mitchell is 3-1 with a 4.57 ERA, permitting 24 hits while striking out 22 against five walks in 21 1/3 innings. He hopes that his case to make the team is strong enough to survive some nerves and a sloppy inning.
"You can't not think about it. I'm trying to as much as I can," Mitchell said. "I feel like I've gone out there and pitched the best that I could every time. That's really all that I can do."