The New York Yankees dropped tonight’s contest against the Baltimore Orioles after CC Sabathia gave up seven runs (four earned) on six hits.
- Baltimore Orioles: 11 (5-12)
- New York Yankees: 2 (6-9-2)
- Grapefruit League, FINAL, Box Score
- George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL
By Christian Kouroupakis
Rough day for the New York Yankees…
Sabathia, who’s trying to prove there’s still some worth in him, struggled mightily in his third outing of 2016.
It all started when Joey Rickard rocketed a double to left field in the top of the first to get the rally started off Sabathia. Two batters later, Baltimore got on the board after Manny Machado doubled to bring Rickard and Jonathan Schoop to the plate.
Then, the very next batter, Mark Trumbo, turned on a low fastball and cranked it over the left field wall to extend Baltimore’s lead to four.
Trumbo finished the day 2-for-4 with four RBI’s while Machado had the big day going 3-for-4 with four RBI’s as well. The two powered the Orioles offense and expect to do the same in the regular season.
The O's open the game with 4 runs including a 3-run @Mtrumbo44 HR & Miguel Gonzalez sets the Yankees down in order in the 1st #OrangeSpring
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) March 18, 2016
Sabathia managed a scoreless second and third inning but the O’s got to him again in the fourth. After a single by Caleb Joseph, Yankee third baseman Rob Refsnyder, who’s trying to make the roster as the back up, committed an error on a ground ball to put two runners on with only one out.
Two batters later, Machado continued his big day with a two run single scoring Joseph and Paul Janish. That would be all for Sabathia, finishing with 4.2 innings pitched, seven runs (four earned) on six hits and only struck out one batter.
RELATED: The Yankees Can’t Afford Another Ellsbury/Gardner Collapse
Andrew Miller came on in relief, and gave up one hit to Trumbo that scored a run that Sabathia was responsible for. Miller struck out Christian Walker to avoid further trouble.
Miller was relieved by Dellin Betances in the fifth inning, and struck out two of the three batters he faced. Combined with Miller, the duo fanned three out of the five batters they faced.
That bullpen though… #NYYSpring pic.twitter.com/dGl7snauTn
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 19, 2016
Luis Cessa pitched the sixth and the seventh inning and allowed three runs on six hits while striking out two. James Pazos tossed a scoreless eighth and Nick Rumbelow surrendered one run on one hit in the ninth.
Overall, Yankee pitching surrendered 11 runs (eight earned) on 14 hits while walking four and only striking out seven batters. The offense was quiet, scoring two runs on a Didi Gregorius two-run single in the second.
New York was 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left three runners on base. It was a tough day for Refsnyder, as he committed his first error as a professional third baseman.
Besides Gregorius, Aaron Hicks provided us with the only highlight with a triple into the left center field gap. Jacoby Ellsbury was 0-for-3, and Brett Gardner also went 0-for-3 in his second game of the spring.
The Yankees will attempt to bounce back Saturday as they host the Atlanta Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Michael Pineda will toss the first pitch at 1:05 pm ET. Complete coverage will be on the YES Network and MLB.TV.
FINAL: Orioles 11, #Yankees 2. #NYYSpring pic.twitter.com/4KOGnPcZj9
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 19, 2016
