New York Yankees Recap: Chris Young Hits 2 Home Runs In Loss To Nationals

By Ricky Keeler | Mar 23, 2015

On Monday afternoon in Viera, Florida, the New York Yankees brought the long ball to Space Coast Stadium when they took on the Washington Nationals. New York hit three home runs in their 7-6 loss to the Nas, but two of them came from one of their outfielders that should be a big piece of their bench in 2015. Plus, Bryan Mitchell got to start against a lineup that featured many of its regulars that will start Opening Day, including the debut of second baseman Yunel Escobar.

New York got on the board first in the top of the third inning when they put up a three spot against Nationals starter Doug Fister. It is the second time the Yankees have faced Fister this spring. After a leadoff double by Rob Refsnyder, Brett Gardner would drive him in two batters later on a RBI groundout to second to get the Bronx Bombers on the board.

Later in the inning, after Chris Young was hit by a Fister curveball, Brian McCann would make Fister pay for the mistake with his second home run of the spring, a two-run shot to right, to make it 3-0 Yankees. McCann has now hit two home runs in his last four spring games.

Bryan Mitchell was able to keep the Nationals off the board in the first three innings. Even though he got in a jam with some erratic command in the second, he was able to escape damage by getting Fister to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

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However, in the fourth inning, Washington would put up a four spot against Mitchell, Chasen Shreve, and Jose Ramirez. Mitchell’s fourth inning started with singles from Clint Robinson and then Michael Taylor, two batters later.

With runners on second and third with two outs, Doug Fister came up and ripped a two-run single to center field against Shreve to cut the lead to 3-2. The Yankees were using the designated hitter today, but the Nationals elected to stay with the traditional NL lineup. With Jose Ramirez in the game, after a Danny Espinosa single, Ian Desmond hit a two-run double to left to put the Nats ahead, 4-3.

All in all, Mitchell had a decent start, giving up two runs on four hits in 3.1 innings. He walked three, struck out two, and his fastball was at 94-96 miles per hour.

In the top of the fifth, the Yankees tied it up against Fister when Chris Young led off the inning with a home run to left field, his first of the spring. In the following inning, Young would hit another long ball to left field, a two-run shot off of Casey Janssen. That allowed the Yankees to re-take the lead, 6-4.

Washington would cut the lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Kyle Davies threw the ball away from Francisco Arcia that allowed Stephen Perez (pinch-running for Danny Espinosa) to score. It was the third New York error on the afternoon (one by Brian McCann and by Nick Noonan). That error would loom large when Kyle Davies gave up a two-run double to right field by Jose Lobaton later in the inning to give Washington back the lead, 7-6.

The Yankees were not able to record a hit in the final three innings of the contest against Craig Stammen, Blake Treinen, and Heath Bell.

While the only Yankees regulars to play in Viera were Brett Gardner and Brian McCann, it was still a good day for the younger players as John Ryan Murphy and Refsnyder each recorded two hits in the loss. Jacob Lindgren did get into the game in the bottom of the eighth and threw a 1-2-3 inning with all groundouts.

The Yankees will be back in Tampa on Tuesday night to take on the Detroit Tigers at 7:05 PM ET on YES. Esmil Rogers will get the ball for New York as he tries to win a spot in the rotation. He will be going up against Anibal Sanchez for the Tigers.

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