Sunday, March 15, 2015

Recap: Yankees 3, Phillies 2


Nathan Eovaldi pitched four shutout innings and Chase Headley hit his first home run of the spring Sunday as the Yankees snuck past the Phillies, 3-2, in a nail-biter at Steinbrenner Field.

Nate the Great: Eovaldi struck out three and faced the minimum in his four frames, giving up just two soft singles in the third and fourth. He retired seven straight to kickoff the afternoon, and never let the Phillies reach second.

Chase-ing a Victory: With the score even at one in the bottom of the seventh, Headley drilled a Kevin Slowey offering over the right-center field wall -- Headley's only knock in three at-bats. It was one of two runs for the Yankees in the inning, the other coming on a Slade Heathcott RBI single.

A Good Start: Leading off the Yankees' half of the first against Sean O'Sullivan, Jacoby Ellsbury laced a stand-up triple to the left-center field gap -- nicely setting up Brian McCann for a run-scoring sac fly three batters later. Ellsbury's knock was the only extra-base one the Yankees had besides Headley's homer, and represented one of the few offensive highlights on the day for their lineup.

Bad Carpentry: David Carpenter entered the contest in the seventh with the Yankees still up 1-0, the Phillies having been kept off the bases since the fourth. Carpenter quickly surrendered a walk and a wild pitch, though, and once Dominic Brown connected on a one-out single to right, the former Brave had blown New York's advantage.

Wilson to the Rescue: After Carpenter allowed another single to get the top of the eighth going and Justin Wilson hit Cesar Hernandez in the foot, the Phillies had the tying runs on with no outs -- a situation that seemed to favor them highly. Following a big strikeout of Cameron Rupp, a weak RBI groundout from Andres Blanco and a routine fly ball from Darin Mastroianni, however, Wilson had forced Philadelphia to settle for just one in the inning -- maintaining for the Yankees the 3-2 lead with which they would ultimately win.

Next Up: The Yankees will have their first off-day since March 2 on Monday before hosting the Blue Jays Tuesday night in Tampa -- beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET. CC Sabathia is expected to make his preseason debut for the Pinstripes when they go head-to-head with Toronto's Drew Hutchison, a matchup set to air on both YES and MLB Network. 

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)