DETROIT WINS 9 – 3
ANOTHER LOSS
It has not been a great Spring Training for the New York Yankees. After starting out so hot, they’ve gone to shits. Right now they’re 12-9 (with a tie) and their latest loss came yesterday afternoon at the hands of the Detroit Tigers. Masahiro Tanaka got hammered and so did the relief pitching. The offense wasn’t great either but only a few of the bigger 25-man roster players were in the lineup. Brandon Drury, Greg Bird, and Aaron Hicks were the three starters in their yesterday. They were a combined 2-for-10. It’s mostly Bird that needs to step his shit up on the offensive end, and Tanaka that’s pissing me off on the other end. Here’s your recap.
In the very top of the first, New York pushed across two runs. After a Tyler Wade strikeout, Drury walked and then Bird doubled. Therefore, the Yankees were set up on second & third with just one out. Before Hicks popped up for the second out, Tigers pitcher Matt Boyd balked home Drury. 1-to-0, good guys. Later, Miguel Andujar would single home Bird. 2-to-0, good guys. Andujar deserves a spot on the 25-man. Somebody tell the Yankees, please.
The Tigers would get one back in the bottom half of the first. Miguel Cabrera knocked a solo shot off of Tanaka. Surprise … But Tanaka proceeded to strike out Nick Castellanos right after, giving him three to start the game. As it was 2-to-1, we moved to the bottom of the third inning where Tanaka allowed three more Tiger runs. A two-run homer from Leonys Martin made it 3-to-2, Tigers. Later in the inning, an RBI single from Victor Martinez made it 4-to-2, Detroit.
At that point, Tanaka’s day would be done. He finished with a 2 2/3 innings, four runs, six strikeouts, one walk stat line. Let’s move a half an inning ahead, where the Yankees would answer back with one run in the top of the fourth. Erik Kratz scored on an error. 4-to-3, Yanks down one. The Tigers then scored two more in the bottom of the fifth. It was off of Domingo German, who allowed and RBI double to Castellanos and a run off of a fielders choice to score Pete Kozma (ex-Yankee bum). So 6-to-3, Detroit.
Detroit then proceeded to score once more in the sixth and twice more in the seventh. It made it 9-to-3, the eventual final. German gave up the three combined runs in the fifth and sixth and J.P. Feyereisen allowed the two in the seventh. German finished with an ugly line of two innings, four hits, three runs, two strikeouts, and two walks. Feyereisen threw a scoreless eighth, giving him a better but not still not great final line of two innings, two runs, one walk, one hit, and four strikeouts.
This loss moves the Yankees to fifth in the Grapefruit League standings. I’m hoping they finish off the spring strong because it gives them some kind of winning feeling heading into the season. It helps. It sucks to see Tanaka have such a shit spring but we’ll see how he does this regular season. Right now he’s got an 11.25 ERA. If he pitches how he’s capable of (usually a sub-3.50 ERA), he’ll be part of a dynamic rotation that’ll be hard to score on. He’s important. My only other worry is Bird. He’s had an awful spring. Bird went 1-for-5 yesterday and he’s now batting a paltry .158. Spring Training or not, it’s a far too familiar sight with him. Hopefully he finds something in time for the real season. That’s all for the recap though.
It's My Opinion 