SURPRISE, Ariz. —
In his first at-bat of the spring, Manny Machado took the first step toward backing up his contention that he will still be a feared hitter and validating what he said had been a productive winter.
“I’ve been working on some things this offseason, and I’m just trying to barrel up some more balls,” Machado said after leaving Monday’s 8-5 loss to the Royals in the middle of the fifth inning, having followed his homer with two fairly deep fly ball outs. “It was nice to get one out of the way. It’s downhill from now.