Yankees Dominate Marlins And Braves In Split-Squad Games

Mar 16, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher

(19) pitches during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Yankees 7, Marlins 0

Less than 24-hours after being no-hit by the Marlins in Panama, the Yankees bats woke up, as did the left arm of CC Sabathia as they beat Miami 7-0.

The scoring began in the second inning when Zealous Wheeler hit a ground rule double to drive in Francisco Cervelli. They would add four more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Carlos Beltran, Francisco Cervelli, and Yangervis Solarte. Gary Sanchez would cap it all off with a two-run home run in the ninth inning.

The main story from this game was CC Sabathia, who has been the subject of serious concern by sports writers and fans alike because of a lack of velocity on his fastball. Sabathia turned in a gem, with 5 innings pitched, 0 walks, no hits, 0 earned runs,  and 5 strikeouts including Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, and Garret Jones (all regulars in the Marlins lineup.

Sabathia, David Robertson, Preston Claiborne, Cesar Cabral, and Chris Leroux combined to 0ne-hit Miami.

Yankees 7, Braves 4

The Bombers also beat the Atlanta Braves thanks to a solid outing by Masahiro Tanaka and a six-run fifth inning.

Tanaka’s fastball didn’t have amazing velocity today, averaging about 89-91 miles per hour, but he threw it for strikes as well as being able to get batters to swing and miss with his slider and splitter. Overall, Tanaka went 4.1 innings with 1 earned run, 3 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.

The Yankees got RBIs from Mason Williams, Brian McCann, Ichiro Suzuki, and Ramon Flores.

Overall, it was a solid day for the Yankees.