The New York Yankees fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday thanks to a rough day by Yankee pitching.
- New York Yankees: 1 (9-3)
- Pittsburgh Pirates: 13 (8-3)
- Grapefruit League, FINAL
- LECOM Park, Bradenton, FL
In exhilarating fashion (insert sarcasm), the Pittsburgh Pirates trampled the New York Yankees by a score of 13-1 at LECOM Park on Monday.
Bryan Mitchell, who came into his third start of the spring with a 0.00 ERA in his first five innings of work, surrendered four runs on six hits and let up a home run to Jordy Mercer in the bottom of the third. It was the 17th home run allowed by Yankee pitching this spring.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Pirates were all over Jordan Montgomery and tagged him for two runs on two RBI doubles by Erich Weiss and Elias Diaz to make it 6-1.
The sixth inning went by quietly, but the Pirates would score seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend their lead to 13-1. The big hit was a bases-clearing double by Casey Hughston off of Evan Rutckyj, who surrendered six runs (four runs) on two hits and walked two.
Offensively, the Yankees collected just five hits and scored just one unearned run on an Ivan Nova error in the top of the third inning.
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a dribbler back to his former teammate, who dropped the ball in attempt to tag Ellsbury, with Brett Gardner on third which made it 2-1 at the time, but they weren’t able to get anything going beyond that as they fell by a final score of 13-1.
A bases-loaded double for @austin_meadows and your Bucs have a 2-0 lead!#PiratesST pic.twitter.com/RIWzLByLaX
— Pirates (@Pirates) March 6, 2017
Mercer me.
Jordy crushes one in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/3FdqXnEgrJ— Pirates (@Pirates) March 6, 2017
The Bucs add a couple in the 5th to go up 6-1 here in Bradenton.#PiratesST pic.twitter.com/aRIa3H5f4l
— Pirates (@Pirates) March 6, 2017
#Raiseit!
Your Bucs win it 13-1 today at home. pic.twitter.com/ERA0q5qF5W— Pirates (@Pirates) March 6, 2017
Wrapping up the weekend with a win!
Final: #Yankees 3, Pirates 2. #StartSpreadingTheNews
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 5, 2017
Familiar Face:
Ivan Nova, a starter that spent seven years in New York before being traded to the Pirates last season, got the starting nod against his former team on Monday.
He pitched in 131 games (118 starts) for the Yankees and won 53 games while posting a 4.41 ERA. In his first full season as a major leaguer, the righty went 16-4 with a 3.70 ERA in 2011 which featured a stretch of nine games from June 3 to August 10 in which we went 7-1 and maintained a 3.09 ERA.
Clear For Takeoff:
Outfielder Mason Williams has been cleared to resume baseball activities after sitting out the first two weeks of camp with lingering patella tendonitis in his left knee. The injury has restricted him to minor throwing but he will now begin running on Monday.
Over 20 major league games over the last two seasons, Williams owns a .292/.320/.438 slash line with one home run and an OPS of .758. He’s a .275 hitter over 548 minor league games and hasn’t made a single error in 123 innings in the majors.
Mason Williams has been cleared for baseball activities. #Yankees
— Christian Kouroupakis (@ckouroupakis) March 6, 2017
What’s Next?
After throwing two innings in a simulated game on Thursday, CC Sabathia will make his first start of the spring on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The 36-year-old was taking it slow after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to clean up his right knee in early October. He is coming off a year in which he posted a 9-12 record with a 3.91 ERA — his lowest ERA since 2012 (3.38).
The contest will begin at 1:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network and on MLB.tv. Make sure to tune into ESNY following the matchup, as we’ll provide you with a full recap of the action.
