Recap: Yankees 4, Tigers 1

Michael Pineda tossed three shutout innings and Andrew Miller struck out two in a scoreless top of the fifth Saturday as the Yankees beat the Tigers, 4-1, in an afternoon split-squad game at Steinbrenner Field.

Pineda Stays Hot: Pineda faced the minimum through his three frames of work, retiring eight of nine hitters while striking out four. He picked off Andrew Romine after the latter walked in the third -- recording the putout himself following a rundown.

Miller Cruises: Miller got hit pretty hard his last time out against the Red Sox, but at least in this one, seemed to have better control of all of his pitches. He sat down three straight Tigers with a couple of strikeouts in a perfect fifth inning, lowering his ERA on the preseason to 2.25.

Gregorius' RBI: Didi Gregorius continued to hit the ball well with a run-scoring sac fly in the Yankees' half of the third, his second RBI in the last week. Gregorius' drive to deep right traveled as far as the warning track, and let Mason Williams jog in routinely from third.

Betances Struggles: Dellin Betances surrendered two ground-rule doubles and balked in the fourth inning, giving up the Tigers' lone run in the contest on a Josh Wilson groundout. The two extra-base knocks he allowed came courtesy of major-leaguers Rajai Davis and Nick Castellanos, and were strangely not accompanied by any strikeouts.

Teixeira Breaks the Tie: Batting with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees took a 3-1 advantage on a Mark Teixeira fielder's choice and a Dixon Machado throwing error -- putting them ahead rather comfortably going into the last three innings. It looked like Machado would have easily doubled up Teixeira with an accurate delivery to first base, but the ball was flung to the dugout wall instead as a second run crossed home. 

Next Up: The Yankees will take the field in Tampa again Sunday when they host the Phillies at 1:05 p.m. ET -- airing only on WFAN radio. Nathan Eovaldi will get the nod for New York against Philadelphia's Sean O'Sullivan -- Eovaldi's first start since the Yanks' home opener March 4.