Today the New York Yankees traveled a few miles northeast to Lakeland, Florida, to meet up with the Detroit Tigers at Joker Merchant Stadium. The Tiger’s starter was Tarik Skabul, and for the New York Yankees, it was Corey Kluber in his third start of the spring; so far, he had an ERA of 3.00. The game was played under mostly sunny skies, with a game-time temperature of a perfect 72 degrees.
Mike Tauchman led off for the Yankees against Skabul. The T-man couldn’t do better; he had a leadoff home run to center. Luke Voit walked. Clint Frazier followed, who tapped into a force-out, Voit out at second. Frazier was picked off. Dietrich walked. Higashioka struck out to end the half. Yankees 1 Tigers 0. Corey Kluber took the mound, and Grossman walked on five pitches. Grossman advanced on a wild pitch. Mazara struck out swinging. W.Castro singled driving in Grossman. Castro stole second. Cabrera flew out, but Castro reached third. Schoop walked, and H.Castro struck out. Kluber had a rough inning where he didn’t have good command. He threw 30 pitches. Yankees 1 Tigers 1.
At the top of the second, Tyler Wade got an infield single. LaMarre singled Wade to third. Velazquez struck out, but LaMarre stole second. Allen flew out, but Wade scored. Tauchman, who homered in the first singled. With Voit hitting, LaMaree was caught stealing home. Yankees 2 Tigers 1. At the bottom, Ramos flew out to the warning track. Garcia popped out. Hill lined to third, but Dietrich overthrew Voit, lifting him off the plate for a double. Grossman flew out for a quick inning for Kluber. Yankees 2 Tigers 1.
At the top of the 3rd, Voit resumed his at-bat and walked. Frazier popped out to second. Both Dietrich and Higashioka popped out as well for the quick Skubal half. Mazara against Kluber walked. W.Castro flew out. Cabrera struck out, Schoop struck out for Klubers 4th strikeout of the game.
Tyler Wade led off the New York Yankee 4th. He singled sharply to left. LaMarre walked, two on no outs. Velazquez called out on strikes, and Wade called out at third. Allen flew out to left to end the half. Kluber out for the fourth allowed H.Castro single to left. Ramos popped into a double play. Kluber was removed from the game with 68 pitches, replaced by Nick Nelson. Garcia struck out to end the inning. Yankees 2 Tigers 1.
Tauchman walked on Skubal, who had five walks in the game. Cisnero replaced him. Voit ground to short, Tauchman out as second as Voit reaches. Frazier flew out for the second out. Dietrich walked. Higashioka walked to load the bases with two outs. Wade flew out, leaving 3 Yankees on base. Hill struck out against Nelson. Grossman struck out, and Mazara lined out to end the inning. Yankees 2 Tigers 1.
Greg Soto struck out LaMarre to start the sixth. Velazquez struck out, and Allen flew out to Rojas, who made a flat-out slide ending the half. Nelson out for his third inning, W.Castro hit a triple to far right. Cabrera walked, Schoop hit into a double play, but W. Castro scored. H.Castro lined out to second. Yankees 2 Tigers 2.
Tauchman leading off the 7th. walked, he was on base all four times. Garcia replaced Soto. His first pitch hit Luke Voit, Florial took his place at first. Voit flew out to far left, and Tauchman went to third. A wild pitch allowed the T-Man to score. Yankees 3 Tigers 2. At the top of the eighth Greg Allen and Chris Gittens hit back to back home runs for the New York Yankee 5-2 lead.
At the bottom of the eighth with Nick Goody on the mound, Reyes and Cameron singled. Short struck out. Erik Haase hit a long home run over the left-field fence driving in three runs to tie the score up at 5 runs apiece. H.Castro walked. Rogers was hit by a pitch. With two on Gracia flew out to close out the eighth inning. Yankees 5 Tigers 5.
In spring training there are no extra innings so if neither team scores in the ninth the game will end in a tie. At the top Rob Brantly ground out. Tyler Wade ground out to short. Ezequiel Duran singled. Velazquez flew out to center ending the Yankee’s ability to break the tie. At the bottom of the ninth, the New York Yankees sent Brooks Kriske to hold down the Tigers. Hill struck out, Reyes walked on four pitches. Cameron batting Reyes stole second. Cameron struck out. Reyes went to third on a wild pitch. Short walked and stole second. Haase lined out ending the game in a 5-5 tie.