With the Yankees already heading out west for the opening series of the regular season against the Giants, they decided to make a little pit stop along the way. On Monday, the Yankees were in Arizona to end their spring season, stopping for a pair of games against the Cubs.
As for the opener of those two games, well, at least this one didn’t count (and wasn’t televised). Starting pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange and pretty much everyone else the Yankees threw on the mound had a less-than-stellar
day, as Chicago piled on the runs. The final tally ended up being a 15-6 Yankees loss.
The game actually started on a decent note, as the Yankees scored first. In the top of the first inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-out single to score Paul Goldschmidt, who had led off the game with a walk. In the bottom of the first, Lagrange allowed two singles to the first two Cubs hitters, but then got Alex Bregman to ground into a double play. While he was on the verge of escaping, Lagrange then allowed a walk to Ian Happ and then another single to Carson Kelly to tie things up. That started a very long day for the Yankees’ pitching staff.
The Cubs really got to Lagrange a couple innings later. After Nico Hoerner led off the inning with a single, Michael Busch and Bregman hit back-to-back homers. Following another hit from Kelly, Lagrange was replaced by Will Brian. Before Brian eventually got out of the inning, he allowed a three-run shot of his own to Matt Shaw.
As it’s still essentially spring training and things are a bit looser, the Yankees did bring back Lagrange for the fourth inning, but Chicago picked up another couple runs, which ended up on his final statline.
Lagrange’s final line ended up being eight runs allowed on nine hits and two walks in 2.2 innings. He did strike out four batters, and his overall spring was impressive enough that we’ll write this off as a bad day against a good MLB lineup. There’s a reason why he’s not yet a finished product, for as tantalizing as his stuff can be at his best.
After giving up 10 unanswered runs, the Yankees finally go one back in the fifth. With Paul Goldschmidt on third after a double and an Aaron Judge single, Cody Bellinger got one in the air, allowing Goldschmidt to tag up and score.
This was just not a day for the Yankees pitchers in general. In the sixth, Cade Winquest and Yerry De los Santos combined to allow another five runs in the sixth. The Cubs didn’t even kick the extra point, they went for two and got to 15 runs on the day.
One good thing did happen before the end of the game, though. Spencer Jones hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the spring, coming off a pair of MLB relievers in Phil Maton and Jacob Webb. Jones did help lead a brief rally in the ninth, but that did come up way short.
Eventually, Kervin Castro and Osvaldo Bido came in and put in some good efforts, making the day not a complete waste on the pitching front. The good news about the pitching situation is that no one of importance right now — Lagrange is obviously somewhat important, just not to the MLB team yet — pitched in this won. The likes of Winquest and De los Santos could end up on the roster, but they’re not going to be relied on for big innings at the moment.
The Yankees will wrap up their 2026 spring slate tomorrow with another game against the Cubs in Arizona. Gerrit Cole is scheduled to get the start in that one, with first pitch coming at 3:05 pm ET.
