Yankees Recap: Mitchell, Hicks Lead Bombers to Double Digit Wins

The New York Yankees (9-12) traveled to Dunedin, Fla. on Saturday aiming for a victory against the hard-hitting Toronto Blue Jays (15-4). Jacoby Ellsbury‘s return was delayed for yet another day, Rob Refsnyder returned to third base after having a rough Friday at the position and Bryan Mitchell was on the mound hoping to hand the Jays their first loss since March 17.

Starting lineup for New York:

1. Aaron Hicks, CF
2. Carlos Beltran, RF
3. Alex Rodriguez, DH
4. Mark Teixeira, 1B
5. Austin Romine, C
6. Rob Refsnyder, 3B
7. Ronald Torreyes, 2B
8. Pete Kozma, SS
9. Cesar Puello, LF

P – Bryan Mitchell

Starting lineup for Toronto:

1. Ezequiel Carrera, CF
2. Domonic Brown, LF
3. Jose Bautista, RF
4. Justin Smoak, 1B
5. Chris Colabello, DH
6. Andy Burns, 3B
7. David Adams, 2B
8. Josh Thole, C
9. Jio Mier, SS

P – J.A. Happ

Saturday’s absence of Ellsbury bode well for Hicks in the leadoff spot, as he clobbered a solo shot to left-center field to begin the ballgame. Mitchell, still trying to force his way into the Yankees’ bullpen, pitched a solid bottom-half of the first. After making a dandy of a play off the mound to get Carrera for the first out, Mitchell was assisted by defensive whiz Kozma on a jump-throw play up the middle. The almighty Bautista flew out to Hicks to end the 1st.

Not much else transpired until the bottom of the third. With two outs, a ground ball was hit toward Refsnyder at third base, who needed to improve off of his last appearance. The converted infielder made an outstanding catch, but Teixeira couldn’t handle the one-hop throw and Refsnyder was slapped with an error on the play. Mier advanced to second on the throw, but Mitchell shut the Jays down on a three-pitch strikeout of Carrera.

Throughout the first three innings, Mitchell had initiated five ground outs and racked up three strikeouts–an encouraging sign of how the pitcher could fare at Yankee Stadium when his command is on-point.

The pitching duel continued with Happ sitting the Yankees middle of the order down on a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Smoak missed a home run by mere inches, but his two-out double gave the Jays a chance to score their first run. Mitchell didn’t waver under the pressure, as he struck out Colabello to send the rapidly-moving game into the top of the fifth before one hour had passed.

Torreyes nearly homered with two outs in the inning, but his double snapped Happ’s streak of 14 consecutive Yankee batters retired. Kozma ultimately stranded Torreyes on second by grounding out to end the inning.

Mitchell’s superb day was over after four innings as Anthony Swarzak took his place on the mound. The newly-entered reliever served up back-to-back one-out doubles to Adams and Thole. The Jays had tied the game up 1-1, and the next batter, Jio Mier, singled past Kozma to put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly gave Toronto its second run of the inning and put them on top of the Yankees, 2-1.

Puello continued his eye-opening spring with a ground-rule double to right field that began the Yankees’ half of the sixth. With one out, Beltran singled up the middle to put runners on the corners for A-Rod. After a drawn out battle between the New York slugger and Happ, A-Rod laced an RBI single into center to draw even with the Jays at two. With runners on first and second, a wild pitch advanced both into scoring position and Teixeira capitalized on the situation with a run-scoring ground out.

The Yankees went into the bottom of the sixth with a 3-2 lead. Swarzak remained on the mound and had a much stronger inning than his previous, collecting strikeouts of Bautista and Smoak amidst a 1-2-3 inning.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of the seventh, Diego Moreno entered the game for the Yankees and was touched up for a run to bring the score back even at three.

With Branden Pinder pitching in the bottom of the eighth, Refsnyder had an early exit for his second game in a row due to a funky hop from a grounder. The ball appeared to have hit the lip of the infield and struck the upper half of Refsnyder’s body. Although it was another tough play, Refsnyder’s chances of making the team as the 25th man could be slipping with his performance as of late.

All tied up heading into the ninth, the Yankees scored their fourth run on an odd series of events. Deibinson Romero walked to begin the bottom half, and with one out he lost track of the count with Vicente Conde at the plate. Believing it was ball four, Romero jogged halfway to second before realizing the situation, but a throwing error advanced him to second anyway. Conde moved Romero to third on a ground out and another catching error allowed him to score, giving New York a 4-3 lead.

Conor Mullee was in charge of closing out the game, and the right-hander carved through the Blue Jays’ lineup, giving up one hit and collecting three strikeouts to send the Yankees home with their 10th win of the spring.

• Yankees notables: Mitchell (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), Hicks (1-3, HR, RBI), Mullee (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)
• Blue Jays notables: Happ (6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K), Mier (2-4, 2B, RBI), Thole (1-2, 2B, RBI)

On Sunday, the Yankees will return to Tampa as Nathan Eovaldi is set to challenge ex-Yankee Phil Hughes and the Minnesota Twins.