Yankees Beat Phillies 3-1, Pineda Perfect, Bird HR #4

The Yankees soared to their 14th win of the preseason performing precision like surgery on the Philadelphia Phillies in a game that was marked by timely hitting and near perfect pitching.

The Yankees (14-5) continued to give us their version of the Big Tease last night with a 3-1 win over the improving Philadelphia Phillies at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Florida.

You want timely hitting; they had it with Greg Bird hitting a solo shot to right off Clay Buchholtz to give the team a lead they never surrendered. They had it too with Gary Sanchez, who is beginning to remind of Derek Jeter with his name always in the middle of things, collecting two more hits that drove in one run. And then, you have that kid who just won’t

And then finally, you had that kid who just won’t go away, Gleyber Torres, who made just one appearance late in the game at the plate, collecting a hit and scoring an insurance run. Torres is now hitting .478 for the spring.

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But that wasn’t even the best of it as Yankees pitching completely shut down the Phillies allowing only one hit, one walk, and a combined 13 strikeouts between Michael Pineda, Aroldis Chapman, and Chad Green.

In fact, if you ignored the pinstripes on his uniform last night, you would have thought you were watching Cory Kluber dominating the Phillies lineup with a devastating and biting slider, mixing in a perfectly timed 94 mph fastball (Sanchez again), to strike out eight over five perfect innings.

Except it wasn’t Kluber on the mound, it was Pineda who came as advertised,  looking as confident as ever with his demeanor on the mound while breezing through the Phillies lineup. Okay, it wasn’t the Boston Red Sox or the Edwin Encarnacion Indians, but why be picky. This was the Michael Pineda the Yankees need.

Other Yankees News

The Yankees have deployed their scouts to the games being played in the World Baseball Classic tournament, and it looks like they’ve come up with a “find.”

According to multiple sources, including ESPN, the Yankees may be adding Ernesto Frieri to their bullpen stock with an invitation to the remainder of Spring Training.

Frieri pitched for Columbia in the WBC, and the team liked what they saw. Joe Girardi tells ESPN:

"“This is a guy that saved a lot of games. “He pitched well in the WBC. Some of our people saw him and he’s going to get an opportunity here.”"

Frieri last pitched in the major leagues in 2015 when he was with Tampa Bay. His best season, however, came with the Angels in 2013 when he racked up 37 saves. He is 31.

In other Yankees news, Austine Romine went down in the seventh inning last night when a wild pitch hit his hand. X-rays following the game were negative.

The Yankees do the traveling today to play the Toronto Blue Jays in a 1:05 p.m. EST start.

Yankees Girardi Finally Gets It: Kids Are Pushing Up On Veterans

Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, made a self-serving and potentially inflammatory statement yesterday that falsely raises the hopes of the Baby Bombers.

The day game following a night game presents a problem for Girardi in filling a roster with at least two or three regulars who will make the bus ride. All eight position player “regulars,” with the exception of Didi Gregorius, who is still playing in the WBC, were in the lineup last night.