Yanks Go Yard
FanSided

Yankees Recap: Tyler Austin Goes Deep in Teams First Win of the Spring

By Michael Cambria

facebooktwitterreddit

As the snow continues to fall here in the Bronx, the New York Yankees just wrapped up their third game of the spring down in warm and sunny Bradenton, Florida with their first win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Yankees starting lineup featured the one two punch of Jacoby Ellsbury (CF) and Brett Gardner (LF) batting 1-2 in front of Chris Young (RF), Garrett Jones (1B) at clean-up, J.R. Murphy (C), Jose Pirela (3B), Kyle Roller (DH), Rob Refsnyder (2B) and Cito Culver (SS).

Esmil Rogers made his first start of the spring for the Yankees today, taking his first crack at earning a spot as the No. 5 or 6 starter in the Yankees rotation to start the season, and boy was he impressive. Rodgers worked a 1-2-3 first inning, getting Andrew McCutchen to pop up to end it on what sounded like a broken bat. He gave up a hit in his second frame, but managed to get out of the inning without further damage. Rogers worked quickly, relying on his fastball. Today he managed to control the ball relatively well, which has been his biggest challenge throughout his six-year big league career. Pittsburgh stayed atop his offers, grounding out four times. Final line, Rogers tossed just two innings, surrendering just one hit while striking out none and walking one. He threw 29 pitches, 18 of them for strikes.

Chase Whitley, who can very well find his name in the mix to join the Yankees six-man rotation to start the season, took over for Rodgers in the third inning, and looked equally as impressive. The first batter Whitley faced was veteran Sean Rodriguez, who lined to center on an 0-1 pitch and tried to stretch a single into a double before being gunned out by Brett Gardner. Whitley settled in nicely after that, getting Justin Sellers to ground out and Jose Tabata to strike out swinging on three straight strikes. He allowed another hit in the second frame, but managed to get out of the inning unharmed, ending his day with a strong two inning performance in which he walked none and recorded one strikeout.

The Yankees bats didn’t come alive until the fifth inning, when Garrett Jones lined a double off Mark Melancon to right-field, scoring veteran Chris Young. Garret Jones finished the day 2-2 with 2 Hits, 1 RBI and 1 BB.

The Pirates answered back an inning later in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Jaff Decker singled to left off Cesar Vargas, scoring Willy Garcia on the play and knotting the ball game up at one a piece.

Tyler Austin entered the second half of the game and would leave his mark. In the eighth inning, he led of the frame by smashing a 1-2 pitch off Deolis Guerra that cleared the fences in left-field, breaking the 1-1 tie and eventually scoring the game winning run, as the Yankees wen’t on to win 2-1.

Nick Rumbelow came on to pitch for the Yankees in the bottom half of the inning, giving up one hit while striking out three of the four batters he faced to get out of the inning.

Taylor Garrison earned his first save of the spring, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning to preserve the Yankees 2-1 lead and first win of the season.

The Yankees will play two split-squad exhibitions tomorrow, one at 1:05 pm v. the Phillies in Clearwater, Fl. and the other at home in George Steinbrenner Field under the light at 7:05 pm.

More from Yanks Go Yard

Home/Yankees News