FINAL: #Yankees 7, Pirates 2. #StartSpreadingTheNewshttps://t.co/LfOGYWYuoh
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 17, 2016
The New York Yankees brought out the lumber in this ballgame, scoring seven runs on ten hits as they took down the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-2.
- New York Yankees: 7 (6-8-2)
- Pittsburgh Pirates: 2 (5-10)
- Grapefruit League, Final, Box Score
- McKechnie Field, Bradenton, FL
By Christian Kouroupakis
Starlin Castro, who hit an opposite field home run on Wednesday night for the New York Yankees, did it again today continuing his hot spring.
He hit a long drive way above the batters eye in straight away center field to give the bombers a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.
Starlin absolutely CRUSHES one to dead center! #WOW
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 17, 2016
Rob Refsnyder, who’s trying to snag an opening day roster spot, also hit a home run. In the fourth inning, with New York trailing 2-1, he cranked a line drive into right center off Jeff Locke that just kept carrying.
It landed on the opposite side of the wall, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish.
.@Rob_Refsnyder shows off that #NYYSpring ?!https://t.co/qrqkTCbcXv
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 17, 2016
In the fifth inning, Chase Headley padded the lead with a RBI sacrifice fly that scored Carlos Beltran.
The Yankees weren’t done there. In the top of the seventh Austin Romine reached on an error by Pedro Florimon scoring Pete Kozma. This gave New York a 6-2 lead.
Romine is hitting .294 this spring and should be given the back-up catchers spot over Gary Sanchez.
In the eight inning the Yankees would extend that lead to five, after Jonathan Diaz grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to score Cesar Puello.
RELATED: A-Rod, Ortiz Leave the Past Behind Them
Masahiro Tanaka, who’s in line to start on Opening Day for the Yankees, got the ball from Joe Girardi and struggled with a similar problem he had in 2015.
The second batter he faced, Andrew McCutchen, crushed a solo home run off a fastball up and over the plate. Tanaka’s day was finished after giving up two earned runs on four hits in two innings of work. He only struck out one batter, but still has an impressive 2.57 ERA in Spring Training.
Johnny Barbato relieved Tanaka in the third inning, tossing a scoreless frame while striking out one and walking one. Then, in the fourth inning, it was 22-year old phenom Luis Severino’s turn to get some work.
He impressed with four shutout innings of two hit ball and struck out five in the process.
Final line for #Sevy: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 Ks.#Yankees lead 7-2 heading to the 9th. #NYYSpring
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 17, 2016
He also made a sweet, yet heart stopping play on a scorching line drive back to the mound.
Reaction time. #Sevy's got it down. #NYYSpring pic.twitter.com/Z80cpgSp4R
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 17, 2016
Chasen Shreve and Tyler Oslen pitched the final two frames to close out the Yankees’ 7-2 victory.
It’s the Yankees third straight victory, and the bats are finally starting to wake up. They are still struggling with runners in scoring position, though, as they were 0-for-9 today.
New York heads back to Tampa on Friday to host the Baltimore Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field. CC Sabathia will take the ball from Girardi at 6:35 pm and full coverage will be on the YES Network and MLB.tv.
