The New York Yankees took on the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, and while the Yankee offense did everything in their power to extract a victory as we inch toward the start of the regular season, their pitching ruined the day. The Yankees scored 12 runs compared to the Phillies 13, with slugger Aaron Judge launching a two-run homer in the first inning to give them a quick lead. However, following his 440-foot left-field shot, starting pitcher Michael King put up at an absolute dud.
Good news and bad news for the Yankees:
Let’s start with the bad news, King currently has a 7.04 ERA this spring, allowing five hits and seven runs over 2.1 innings against Philadelphia. King was terrible, and there’s no other way to justify his performance. In fact, the Yankees pitching entirely was bad on Thursday, with Tyler Lyons allowing three hits and four runs in 1.0 innings.
The Yankees battled back despite their pitching woes, posting five runs in the ninth-inning before Nestor Cortez blew the comeback, given up a run on two hits in the bottom of the ninth.
While this performance seems like an anomaly for the pitching, the offense was phenomenal, ranging from starting to reserve players. Chris Gittens seems to be unstoppable this spring, currently hitting .400 with three homers and seven RBIs over 15 at-bats. As a primary first baseman and designated hitter, Gittens might be justifying an active roster spot in the coming days, especially with the Yankees reassigning Mike Ford.
DJ LeMahieu had another stellar afternoon, recording two hits and a walk over three at-bats. “The Machine†continues to dominate at every level, and skipper Aaron Boone is likely thanking Brian Cashman for finding a way to bring him back.
In other news, there have been murmurs that the Yankees could be considering a trade that sends Mike Tauchman on his way. However, with Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich struggling as of late, retaining Tauchman might be a good move, despite having Brett Gardner available.