TAMPA, Fla. -- From his usual spring perch at the back of the bullpen, hidden underneath George M. Steinbrenner Field’s right-field grandstand, Yankees manager Aaron Boone nodded as he watched Deivi García’s recent mound session. The fastball seemed to pop more crisply, Boone thought, perhaps a good indicator of things to come.

That translated into García's outing on Wednesday night, as the right-hander tossed two scoreless innings in the Yankees’ 7-1 Grapefruit League victory over the Orioles. García pitched around a first-inning Ryan Mountcastle double in his 27-pitch effort and was clocked as high as 96.1 mph on his fastball.

“His stuff was really good,” Boone said. “What we’ve been seeing, I thought he took out there in the game. You can tell he’s pitching with some confidence, so we’ve just got to keep that rolling.”

Tossing eight sliders, four changeups and one curveball, García didn't issue any walks and struck out one, fanning Trey Mancini for the second out of the first.

“When he’s really good, he’s really pounding the zone,” Yanks catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “When he’s struggled, he’s lost the zone. That’s definitely a point of emphasis for him this spring, and hopefully he continues to work on that.”

The 22-year-old García fell from No. 11 to No. 29 in MLB Pipeline’s Yankees prospect rankings after posting a 6.85 ERA in 24 Triple-A games (22 starts) last year. García also made two starts at the big league level, going 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA.

"If he goes out, puts together good outings and has a good year, you can re-establish yourself in a hurry -- especially when you're a young man," Boone said.

Latest on NYC mandates
According to multiple reports, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to ease the city’s private-sector vaccination mandate on Thursday, which will permit Kyrie Irving of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets to resume playing in home games. It will also clear a path for any unvaccinated Yankees and Mets to play in home games.

“I’m happy Kyrie can play in some home games,” Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said. “I kind of told you guys, I wasn’t too worried about it. I’ve got a lot of things to do here at the field. If the mandate’s not there, then I guess it’s good for Kyrie. He can play some home games and help the Nets out a little bit.”

In recent weeks, Yankees president Randy Levine has been communicating with City Hall regarding the mandate. Boone said that he would not comment on the mandate being lifted until an official announcement is made.

Boone on extra-innings rule
Boone said on Wednesday that he was in favor of Major League Baseball continuing to use an automatic runner on second base in extra-inning games, a pandemic-era innovation.

In explaining his reasoning, Boone said that he likes the idea of preserving his players’ safety and avoiding having to unfairly demote players to address the pitching fallout of lengthy contests.

“For the regular season, I’m on board with it, I think,” Boone said. “If you’re in the middle of a long stretch of games -- you run into a 17-inning game and you get up against it, you start worrying about guys getting unnecessarily injured."