New York Yankees Recap: Mitchell Impressive against Deep Orioles Lineup

The Yankees (2-5) deployed a split squad on Thursday, taking on the Blue Jays (7-1) in Tampa, FL, and facing the Orioles (0-9) in Sarasota. This recap is about the Yanks-Orioles game, but there will also be a separate post on how the other squad fared against the Jays.

Yankees’ starting lineup:

Starting pitcher – Bryan Mitchell

Orioles’ starting lineup:

Starting pitcher – Tyler Wilson

1st inning: Lead-off man Jacoby Ellsbury, down in an 0-2 count, knocked the first hit of the ballgame into center field for a single. Refsnyder followed suit with another single to move Ellsbury into scoring position, and Castro continued the hit parade with an RBI-double to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. Aaron Hicks scored Refsnyder and advanced Castro to third on a run-scoring ground out to second base, doubling the lead to 2-0. Tyler Wilson would halt New York’s rally by getting Corporan to go down swinging and Parmelee to line-out to left field, stranding Castro at third.

Adam Jones put the Orioles on the board with a 1-out homer off of a high-outside fastball from Mitchell, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1. Davis and Wieters both exploited the shift and kept the O’s threat alive with singles down the third-base line, but Corporan caught Davis too far off the bag on a throw down to second that ended the inning.

2nd inning: After Heathcott singled sharply to right field to begin the inning, Torreyes lofted a fly out to right field and Higashioka grounded into a double play to squander the Yankees top-half of the 2nd.

Mitchell honed his control in his second inning, giving up less hard contact. J.J. Hardy would sneak an unproductive single past Castro for the O’s lone hit of the inning. Just to keep you folks updated on the Yankees’ back-up 3B experiment, Refsnyder smoothly fielded an L.J. Hoes ground ball for the final out of the 2nd.

3rd inning: Wilson was on pace for a quick 3rd inning, getting Ellsbury and Refsnyder to go down on a small handful of pitches. Castro collected his second hit of the day when he poked a single into right that kept the inning going, but Hicks struck out to send the game into the bottom of the 3rd.

Facing the middle of the Orioles’ lineup for the second time around, Mitchell punched out Machado on a 94-mph fastball and Jones on an 82-mph curveball for his first two K’s of the game. Davis grounded into the shift to put a cap on an impressive outing from Mitchell, keeping the Yankees in the lead 2-1.

Mitchell’s final line: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 K, 0 BB

4th inning: Ex-Yankee Chaz Roe was the new pitcher for Baltimore in the top of the 4th, and Corporan welcomed him by lacing a single to O’s right fielder Trumbo. Roe settled down by inducing three fly outs from Parmelee, Heathcott, and Torreyes to end the top of the inning.

Kyle Haynes replaced Mitchell to begin the bottom of the 4th. Following two strikeouts of Trumbo and Wieters, Haynes plunked Hyun Soo Kim (who’s in a terrible cold streak to begin his O’s debut) with a fastball. A wild pitch advanced Kim to second base on a 2-2 count to J.J. Hardy, and Haynes eventually walked Hardy to give the Orioles runners at first and second. Jonathan Schoop slipped a ground ball past a diving Refsnyder that Castro would get to and bobble for an error to load the bases. Haynes rebounded and picked up his defense, getting Hoes to fly out to Hicks in right field and send the game into the 5th.

5th inning: Dylan Bundy made his third appearance of the spring, facing the Yankees No. 9, 1, and 2 hitters. Back-to-back singles by Higashioka and Ellsbury had the Yankees threatening early in the inning with Refsnyder at the plate. The young prospect hit a check-swing grounder to the pitcher, advancing the runners to second and third for Castro, who was looking to build upon his 2-hit ballgame. Castro didn’t disappoint, coming up big with a clutch 2-run single into center to raise his spring batting average to .429. Newcomer Hicks placed a hard-hit grounder through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners with one out. After Corporan flied out to Jones in center, Parmelee was robbed on a great play by Trumbo to save a run.

With a cushioned 4-1 lead, Haynes came out for his second inning of work. Machado knocked his first hit of the day into center field to kickoff the O’s 5th. Haynes would stop Machado from advancing past first base, getting Jones to fly out, and initiating ground outs from Davis and Trumbo.

Haynes’ final line: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB

6th inning: O’s manager Buck Showalter used his fourth pitcher of the day, Brad Brach, to face the Yankees in the 6th. Brach made quick work of the Yanks, collecting two ground outs on five pitches and retiring pinch-hitter Eddy Rodriguez on a swinging strikeout.

The Yankees turned to Anthony Swarzak out of the pen, hoping to get a consecutive solid outing from the right-hander. Swarzak began his day with a curious two-strike bunt attempt by Wieters for the first out. After another quick out, a J.J. Hardy single and a double by Schoop gave the Orioles a pulse in hopes of chipping away at their 3-run deficit. The attempts were unfruitful, as Hoes popped out to catcher Austin Romine to end the 6th.

Swarzak’s final line: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB

7th inning: Brach came out for his second inning of work, and was greeted by Mark Payton with a single to left field. After 3B prospect Miguel Andujar flied out, Jorge Mateo, subbed in for Castro at shortstop, had his first plate appearance and beat out a double play attempt to keep the inning alive for the Yankees. Following a single from right fielder Juan Silva, Romine, also with his first at-bat, grounded out and stranded Yankees runners at first and second.

LHP James Pazos came out of the ‘pen firing mid-90s fastballs against the O’s in the bottom of the 7th. Joey Rickard turned on one for a single, but Pazos followed it up with two strike outs. Mateo let a ground ball slip under his glove, and instead of getting the third out, the O’s had runners on first and second. Pazos walked the bases loaded, and Hyun Soo Kim beat out an infield grounder to Mateo for his first hit of the spring, bringing the score to 4-2 and ending Pazos’ outing. The Yankees brought in Chad Green, acquired in the Justin Wilson trade, to escape the bases loaded jam. Green gave up a 2-run single on the first pitch to Steve Tolleson, and the game was suddenly tied 4-4. Left fielder Tyler Austin caught the third out in front of the outfield wall, and the Yankees narrowly escaped being down by three runs.

Pazos’ final line: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R (0 ER), 2 K, 1 BB

Green’s final line: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 K, 0 BB

8th inning: O’s hard-throwing prospect Tanner Scott dominated Yankees minor leaguers with a 1-2-3 inning with 3 K’s to keep the momentum on Baltimore’s side.

Taking over for Chad Green, left-hander Richard Bleier aimed to keep the game tied before heading into the 9th. After striking out Audry Perez, Mateo robbed Rickard of a single with an outstanding play from deep in the hole. Another ground out brought the Yankees to the plate as they hoped to pull ahead of the O’s.

Bleier’s final line: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB

9th inning: Eddy Rodriguez began the inning with a strikeout–Tanner Scott’s fourth consecutive in four batters. Scott continued to keep Yankees’ hitters flailing at pitches by striking out his fifth batter in a row and getting Andujar to ground to shortstop for the third out. The Orioles headed into the bottom of the 9th looking to walk-off for their first win of the spring.

RHP Brady Lail was assisted by 2B Cito Culver with a jumping play for the first out. The 20-year-old-reliever then collected a strikeout and fly out to end the game in a tie (the second tie for both the Yankees and Orioles, so far).

Lail’s final line: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB

Friday afternoon, Yankees’ ace Masahiro Tanaka takes the mound versus the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

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