In their split squad match up against the Tigers, the Yankees showcase the long ball.
Although this game means little in the grand scheme of the spring, partly because only half of their team was present and many of the players were lower level prospects, it's still nice to see when they perform nicely; it gives fans high hopes of both the immediate future and the long term.
The game, pitching wise, was flooded with an armada of young arms. The game was started by Adam Warren who pitched two innings of scoreless ball and recorded two hits, two walks, and a strikeout. On Detroit's end, the game was started by none other than AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer who allowed one run on one hit with two strikeouts. That one run and one hit was indeed the first home run, hit by new backstop Brian McCann; that's definitely nice to see. The scoring continued in the following inning for the Yankees, where Yankee top prospect Gary Sanchez hit the team's second home run, a solo shot.
Scoring quieted for both teams from the bottom of the third through the sixth inning. Shawn Kelley, Mark Montgomery, Ken Burawa, and Fred Lewis recorded four scoreless for the Yankees, and Jose Ortega, Phil Coke, and Luis Marte put together three scoreless innings for the Tigers until the scoring began once again in the seventh. The home runs continued, as the Yankees scored five runs on two blasts: a two-run home run from Jose Pirela and a three-run home run from Yangervis Solarte. They're both definitely candidates for infield depth, so those are some good signs. Going into the bottom of the seventh, it appeared that the Yankees were completely in control as they led by seven, until one half-inning later.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Tigers scored four runs on a: Ben Guez RBI single, a Steven Moya RBI single, and a John Murrian RBI double. All four runs were scored off of Brian Gordon, a former Yankee from 2011 who played in Korea from 2012 to 2013 and was picked up again by the Yankees on a minor-league deal in December. The scoring subsided after that. Chad Green and Corey Knabel recorded scoreless eighth and ninth innings for the Tigers, and Chase Whitley and Preston Claiborne did the same to close out the game for the Yankees.
Tomorrow is the spring training game everybody has been waiting for. The Yankees will be facing the Philadelphia Phillies at GMS Field, and Joe Girardi will give outings to CC Sabathia (who will start the game), Hiroki Kuroda, and Masahiro Tanaka. All eyes will be on Tanaka to see how he performs in his first spring training game with the team. I'm pretty excited. The game starts at 1 PM and will be aired on MLB.tv and the YES Network.