This afternoon in the nation’s capital, the New York Yankees won their bullpen game against the National’s Patrick Corbin. The bullpen game was caused by Masahiro Tanaka not being able to make his start due to being hit in the head. Tanaka was hit by a comebacker from Giancarlo Stanton. So as not to interrupt the rotation, they gave the start to Jonathan Loaisga.
The first six innings dragged by for Yankee fans as the Yankees could do nothing off Patrick Corbin, but at the top of the seventh inning Corbin made a mistake, and Gleyber Torres took advantage of it and hit a homer into the seats of left field. Mistake number two for the Nats was manager Dave Martinez took Corbin out of the game with only 76 pitches thrown.
For the Nationals, it was all downhill for the rest of the game. Will Harris that you might remember from his appearances in the Astros postseason, took over for Corbin. Harris immediately gave up a home run to Luke Voit, and just like that, the game was tied at 2.
The Nationals took the lead early when Jonathan Loaisiga, who pitched well through three, gave up a homer to Trea Turner for the one-run lead. In the fourth, David Hale replaced Loaisiga. Starlin Castro doubled, Howie Kendrick grounded out moving Castro to third. Eric Thames singled driving in Castro for the 2-0 Nationals lead. Hale induced a double play to get out of the inning.
At the top of the fifth, Adam Ottavino hit Yan Gomes with a pitch, but he too got out of the inning with a double play.
After the Yankees got two runs in the seventh, the fun began. With the scored tied in the eighth Aaron Hicks singles, Gary Sanchez singles, Aaron Judge struck out, but Gleyber Torres did the job with a single driving in Hicks for the Yankees first lead of the day. Yankees 3-2. Later in the inning, Giancarlo Stanton walked and loaded the bases. Luke Voit struck out, leaving the bases loaded.
The bottom of the eighth with Tommy Kahnle on the mound, not having his best stuff, he loaded the bases for the Nationals by intentionally walking Howie Kendrick. Just when it looked like the Yankees would lose the lead, Kahnle got Erick Thames to strikeout ending the inning. Although the Yankees would have liked a smoother inning from Kahnle, he proved how resourceful he was by making his pitches and getting out of trouble.
Zack Britton created some of his own nerves with Yankee fans when he too didn’t have his best stuff either. Temporarily Britton will be the Yankees closer while Aroldis Chapman is out with the coronavirus. Britton before coming to the Yankees was the closer for the Baltimore Orioles. He eventually closed out the inning and got the save. Chad Green, who pitched the sixth and seventh inning, got the win.
Other game notes: The star of the game was Gleyber Torres, who was 3-4, including his home run dinger. Unfortunately, he also had two errors at short. Catcher Gary Sanchez had a passed ball but redeemed himself with an excellent throw to third base catching pinch-runner Emilio Bonafacio while trying to steal third base. The final score was Yankees 3 and the Nations 2, allowing the Yankees to win the series.
Tonight the New York Yankees will travel to Philadelphia to meet up with Joes Girardi’s Phillies for a two-game series. The Yankee home Opening Day will be on Wednesday when they face the same Phillies for another two-game series before they meet the Boston Red Sox at the Stadium.