New York Yankees Spring Training Game Recap: Severino Struggles in Spring Debut

After five long months, New York Yankees baseball finally made its triumphant return this afternoon as the Yankees (0-0) hosted the Detroit Tigers (0-1) at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida.

The starting lineup for the New York Yankees includes a mix of veterans and prospects as well as some new faces like Starlin Castro, Aaron Hicks and Donovan Solano getting their first cuts in a Yankees uniform.

1. Didi Gregorius, SS
2. Starlin Castro, 2B
3. Brian McCann, C
4. Mark Teixeira, 1B
5.  Aaron Hicks, CF
6. Dustin Ackley, DH
7. Aaron Judge, RF
8. Ben Gamel, LF
9. Donovan Solano, 3B

The Yankees sent 22-year old right-hander Luis Severino to hill to face off against Tigers veteran Mike Pelfrey and a Tigers lineup that featured:

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Anthony Gose, CF
3. Justin Upton, LF
4. J.D. Martinez, RF
5. John Mayberry Jr., 1B
6. Cameron Maybin, DH
7. Casey McGehee, 3B
8. Mike Aviles, SS
9. Bryan Holaday, C

Severino looked very impressive out of the gate, hurling 95 mph fastball after fastball and through just nine pitches, he retired the first three Tigers batters in order, including a strikeout to Justin Upton.

However, in the second inning Severino starting to mix in a few sliders, but he struggled a bit. After getting J.D. Martinez to strike out to lead off the inning, Severino lost total control of the strike zone and loaded the bases after allowing a one-out single to John Mayberry Jr and followed that up by plunking Cameron Maybin with a 95-mph fastball that ran in on the hands and another base on balls to Casey McGhee.

With the bases loaded, Severino issued yet another walk to New York City native Mike Avilles, putting the Tigers up 1-0.

Up next was Tigers no.9 hitter Bryan Holiday, who smoked a grand slam over the left-center field wall, putting the Tigers up 5-0 and ending Severino’s spring debut abruptly.

Final line for Severino: 1.1 IP, 2 Hits, 5 Runs (all-earned), 2 walks, 2 Strikeouts, 1 Home Run and a sky-high 33.75 ERA.

Nick Rumbelow came on in relief of Severino, and after allowing just one hit, he was able to end the inning thanks a pop fly can o’ corn off  the bat of Ian Kinsler and a 93-mph fastball that he blew by Justin Upton. 

Rumbelow started things off in the third inning by serving up a lead-off triple J.D. Martinez, but immediately followed that up with a strikeout on a pitch in the dirt to Mayberry Jr.

With one out and Martinez on third, Miguel Gonzalez came on to replace the injured Cameron Maybin and he smoked a single past a diving Solano. Martinez scored to put the Tigers up 6-0, but a very strong throw from Ben Gamel in LF gunned Miguel Gonzalez trying to stretch a single into a double.

With two outs, Rumbelow served up a line-drive double to Casey McGhee over the head off Aaron Judge, effectively ending his Spring Training debut.

Rumbelow’s final line: 1.1 IP, 4 Hits, 1 Run (earned), 0 walks, 1 strikeouts and a 6.75 ERA.

RHP Tyler Cloyd came on in relief and managed to get Aviles to ground and end the inning thanks to some impressive range displayed by Starlin Castro at second base.

Cloyd served up a solo home run an inning later to Ian Kinsler to put the Tigers up 7-0.

After three perfect innings from Tigers veteran Mike Pelfrey, Detroit handed the ball off to RHP Drew VerHagen to start the bottom of the fourth and the Yankees bats finally came alive.

Starlin Casto blooped a one-out single into center field for the Yankees first hit of the ballgame. Brian McCann followed that up with a ground-rule double that Justin Upton lost in the sun and Mark Teixeira worked a walk to load the bases.

In his first big spot in a pinstripe uniform, Aaron Hicks stepped in with one out and the bases loaded and he lined a single to right field that cut the Tigers lead to 7-1. Unfortunately, Hicks promptly followed his hit with an error on the base path.

The Tigers handed the ball off to Blaine Hardy with two outs and runners on second and third, and Yankees utility-man Dustin Ackley delivered with a ground-rule double to right field to cut the Tigers lead to 7-3. 

After a 1-2-3 top of the fifth from Yankees right-hander Mark Montgomery, Hardy came back out to pitch the bottom frame for the Tigers and after issuing a lead-off walk to Ben Gamel and a double down the left-field-line to Solano, the Yankees cut the Tigers lead to 7-5 thanks to a pair of RBI’s from Didi Gregorius and Starlin Castro.

With two outs and a runner on second, Ronald Torreyes came on to pinch-run for Starlin Castro while the Tigers handed the ball off to RHP Endrys Briceno, who immediately got Austine Romine to line out to third and Chris Parmelee to line out to left and end the inning.

In the sixth inning the Yankees handed the ball off to southpaw Tyler Olson and they made a number of defensive replacements, including 20-year old top prospect Jorge Mateo at SS and Dustin Fowler in center field.

Mateo was tested early, as he charged a Mike Avilles chopper and fired onto first for the second out of the inning, and boy did he look good in the process.

Thanks to a pair of two-out RBI’s from Lane Adams and Deibinson Romero, the Yankees tied the ball game up at seven in the bottom of the sixth, but the inning ended with a bit of a scare when Jorge Mateo came up limping after trying to beat out a dropped third strike.

After holding the Tigers scoreless in the seventh thanks to the combined efforts of Yankees pitchers Tyler Olson and Johnny Barbato, the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh when Austin Romine scored on an slow-roller off the bat of Dustin Fowler.

The Yankees took an 8-7 lead into the eighth where Johnny Barbato continued to impress. After surrendering a lead-off walk to Dixon Machado, Barbato retired the next three Tigers in order, including a nasty slider in the dirt to get Jose Azocar to strike out and end the inning.

The Yankees went down in order in the eighth, and the ninth inning Nick Goody struggled mightily. Jason Krizan started things off with a ground-rule double and Steven Moya followed that up with a two-run homer to give the Tigers a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the ninth.

Fortunately the Yankees never gave up, and despite Mateo limping in his previous at-bat, the 20-year old started things off in the bottom of the ninth with a lead-off triple, and quite honestly he rounded the bases quicker than I’ve ever seen anyone do so in professional baseball.

Austin Romine singled in Mateo to tie the ball game, and then the magic happened. With two outs and Tyler Austin pinch-running for Romine at second, Dustin Fowler launched a fly ball to left-field that Jason Krizan lost in the sun, allowing Fowler to reach base and Austin to score the game-winning run.

Next: Yankees Sign Chris Denorfia to Minor League Deal

When all was said and done the Yankees won 10-9, and perhaps their first spring training game of 2016 will be the first ever to be features on an episode of Yankees classic, because boy was that a fun one!

The Yankees will be back in action tomorrow afternoon against the Phillies at 1:05 pm.