A lot of the attention in the sporting world — including occasionally that of your humble author — was elsewhere on Thursday afternoon, with the start of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. However, even with the World Baseball Classic having come to a close, there’s still plenty of spring training action left to go before the regular season gets going.
For the Yankees on Thursday, we got double the action. The Yankees were in split-squad mode today, as they took on a pair of AL East foes. Half
of the team hosted the Orioles, while the other half made the trip to take on the Blue Jays. For much of the day, it seemed like both games were headed for Yankees’ losses, but a late rally in the home game gave them a split for the day.
Yankees 5, Orioles 4
Despite a couple RBI — including a homer — from Giancarlo Stanton, it appeared as though the Yankees were going down in this one. However, a ninth inning rally allowed the Yankees to tie the game and then win it, ensuring that they would split Thursday’s games.
Running out the stronger of the two lineups, the home Yankees’ team struck early against the Orioles. With Trent Grisham on third after leading off with a single, and then moving over thanks to a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk and a balk, Giancarlo Stanton got one in the air and deep enough for Grisham to tag up and score.
Baltimore struck back to overtake the Yankees over the next couple innings. In the second, a two-run homer from Colby Mayo gave the O’s the lead, and a Adley Rutschman single tacked on another run the following inning.
The Yankees eventually got one of those runs back in the sixth, courtesy of Stanton. He continued his impressive spring with a trademark “how the hell did that get out?” blast to get the Yankees back within a run.
Max Fried got the start for the Yankees in this one, and wasn’t his sharpest self. He ended up going five innings, but allowed three runs on five hits and four walks. Holding Baltimore to three runs despite the rest of those numbers is solid, at least.
The teams later traded runs in the eighth, which left the Yankees still down a run going into the ninth. There, prospect Garrett Martin hit a game-tying home run. After that, Roderick Arias drew a walk, with Coby Morales then singling him to third. That brought Ali Sánchez to the plate, and he flied out deep enough to center for Arias to score, giving the Yankees a walk-off win after doing not much for most of the game.
Yankees 0, Blue Jays 11
The other half of the Yankees hit the road to take on a strong Blue Jays’ lineup. Said strong lineup had absolutely no issue with the Yankees, pounding them both offensively and pitching-wise in an 11-0 win.
In Dunedin, the Blue Jays quickly got on the board. In the second at-bat in the bottom of the first, Daulton Varsho homered off Ryan Weathers to give Toronto the early lead. Then in the third, some Jays’ regulars added on. With George Springer and Varsho already on after hits, Vladmir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger each added RBI single to put them further in front.
Then in the fourth, the Blue Jays fully put things away. Springer took Weathers deep for a grand slam, knocking the pitcher out of the game. It was another less than stellar day for Weathers. In 3+ innings, he allowed seven runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out five, but his ERA for the spring now sits at over 11.
However even after Weathers, the Yankees’ bullpen didn’t exactly perform either. While he did finish off the fourth inning, Kervin Castro started the fifth and failed to record an out before Cade Winquest replaced him. Winquest then allowed a couple more hits, including a Andrés Giménez homer, and added in a wild pitch for good measure. Toronto put up another four spot, going up by double digits in the process.
Meanwhile, other than Amed Rosario, no guaranteed regular position players made the trip to Dunedin. Rosario himself had two hits, but the rest of the lineup combined for just one more, as the Blue Jays truly crushed the Yankees in this one.
