Yankees 6, Phillies 5: New York walks off Philadelphia
Yesterday at 02:45
The Yankees hit three home runs and Carlos Carrasco continued his strong spring.
It's spring training. Wins are great, but the final score really isn't that important. There were some really positive and important takeways for the Yankees tonight. Offensively, Cody Bellinger and J.C. Escarra continued their strong springs. Moreover, Ben Rice showed off, making a case for consistent playing time at DH while Giancarlo Stanton is hurt.
On the other side, Carlos Carrasco had a decent outing to maintain his spring momentum. With a rotation missing Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, the Yankees will take every piece of good pitching news they can get.
Philadelphia looked like they were going to put some runs on the board in the first against Carrasco, with runners on second and third and only one out. But then the MVP made his presence known. Aaron Judge smoothly fielded a fly ball to right field and fired a strike to home plate. J.C. Escarra easily handled the throw and slapped the tag for the inning-ending 9-2 double play.
Ben Rice made sure the Yankees didn't suffer a similar fate in the bottom of the first. With Cody Bellinger on second with two out after a missile double to right field, Rice unleashed on Philly starter Taijuan Walker. Rice's bomb to right center put the good guys up 2-0 early.
Philly got one back in the top of the second. A HBP and a seeing eye single put runners on the corners with one out. A sacrifice fly later and the Yankee lead was cut in half. Carrasco tossed a clean third inning and, with a runner on second and one out in the fourth, having thrown 61 pitches, Aaron Boone came out to get him. Some traffic for Carrasco, but to give him credit, not a ton of hard contact.
Luke "Dream" Weaver was the first man out of the 'pen for the Yanks. A can of corn to center and a groundball to the left side later and the Yanks were out of the inning. Nice job stranding the runner by one of the '24 Yankees' best stories.
Allan Winans, originally listed as the starting pitcher for tonight's game, came in for the fifth. Some slapdash defense got Winans in trouble with runners on the corners and two out but he buckled down to escape, keeping the Yankee lead at 2-1.
Winans stayed in the contest and pitched a scoreless sixth. Alas, with one out in the top of the seventh, Winans left a changeup in the middle of the strike zone. To make matters worse, there was a runner on. In the blink of an eye, and one-run Yankee lead became a one-run deficit.
Philly's lead was not long for this world, happily. Leading off the seventh, presumptive backup catcher J.C. Escarra smashed a solo home run out to right, knotting the contest at three.
Winans came back out for the eighth and it was a bridge too far. Two singles sandwiched around a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with no one out and ended Winan's night. Yoendrys Gómez entered and tried to escape the mess but it was not to be.
Garrett Stubbs greeted the righty with a first pitch single to right field. The base hit, and an E9 by Jackson Castillo, scored two runs and put the Phils up 5-3. To Gómez's credit, he retired the next three Phillies in order, sending the game to the bottom of the eighth.
The bottom half featured a George Lombard, Jr. sighting. Leading off the frame, the super-talented teenager led off with a single to right. Later in the inning, he flashed his wheels, easily swiping third base after getting a huge lead and jump.
In the ninth, Spencer Jones worked a four-pitch walk to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of T.J. Rumfield. And Rumfield showed off his power. A towering two-run shot tied the game back up at five apiece.
New York won this on some heads-up baserunning. With Jesus Rodriguez on second and two out, Brendan Jones hit a groundball down the first base line. Carson Taylor made a great play to get to the ball, but no one covered first. And Rodriguez scampered home for the walk off win.
The Yankees are back at it tomorrow versus the Rays. First pitch on that game is 1:05 pm EDT. And in a nice bonus, tomorrow is also the Yanks' Spring Breakout Game, as some of New York's best prospects face their counterparts from the Orioles system.
