The Yankees brought almost all Opening Day holders to Clearwater this evening to face the Phillies, and achieved some promising results. The Phillies and Yankees exchanged blows early, breaking big hits from starters Michael King and Matt Moore, and then the substitutes mirrored their performance in the final frames. The Phillies were the only ones to come out with the victory in the end, thanks to a walk-off single.
King was a difficult pitcher to cast early in his career, and he didn’t do himself any favors in this match. An early strike and a pair from JT Realmuto put Philadelphia in business in the first, and a walk followed by another hitting striker would force a run. Alec Bohm hit a ball on the ground that only managed to get one and allowed another race to score, leaving Didi Gregorius for a three-race burst against his former team. In a bit of spring training magic, Aaron Boone decided to pull King at this point, but was allowed to reinstate him to begin the next inning.
This was a much more successful version of the upper half of the shift. Matt Moore got himself into a hole right away, giving up a single for DJ LeMahieu who created a massive Aaron Judge home run. The lunar firing was Judge’s first this spring, something that had been causing some concern outside the organization. Boone did not hesitate to call Judge’s spring a success, however, and it seems that the power is still there.
Moore was temporarily eliminated after allowing Aaron Hicks a double, although he managed to get the next two hitters out. Moore went back to the second as well, but he would find himself in trouble again in the third. This time, it was Gleyber Torres who started, throwing a ball to the left for a three-run shot that almost fell on the same spot as Judge’s.
Unfortunately for King, his misfortunes did not end after being left out for the rest of the first inning. The Phillies attacked him again in the second, with two singles from Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper impacted by another hit-by-pitch. A walk to Rhys Hoskins and a single by Jean Segura brought home two more runs, leaving King with a total of seven allowed runs. King made a clean third inning to end his night before handing the ball over to Jonathan Loáisiga.
The scoreboard was still close, but the fireworks were far from over. Tyler Lyons took over to start the eighth entry with 8-6, and promptly gave up on four more races for the Phillies. The big blow came in a three-race shot by Logan O’Hoppe, and it looked like the game would be over in no time. The Yankees then moved up to ninth and recovered for six runs to tie the game, starting with a solo shot by Chris Gittens. Armando Alvarez, Kellin Deglan, Ezequiel Duran and Estevan Florial provided RBI hits on the board and gave the team the opportunity to go to the end of the ninth.
This entry was short-lived, as Nester Cortes Jr. was unable to avoid giving up. Luke Williams started with a single and was transferred to second base, creating a single by Johan Rojas that was released in the right field to end the game.
In terms of relevance to the main squad, the Yankees achieved everything they could have asked for in the attack and very little in today’s launch. Judge and Torres’ performances were a welcome sight for two crucial sluggers, and LeMahieu continued to hit. Meanwhile, King’s command looked atrocious and he suffered the consequences of letting many men in while Lyons almost withdrew from the conversation because he was the additional left-handed in prison. Still, there are a few days left before the final decisions have to be made – who knows what the rest of the competition will do in that time.
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