Max Fried had a decent outing for the Yankees as he prepares to start Opening Day, but the Yankees' batters failed to leave much of a mark in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday in Tampa during Grapefruit League action.
Here are the takeaways...
- Fried retired the first six batters he faced and appeared to hardly break a sweat, getting four groundouts and a strikeout swinging on a changeup on 19 pitches (16 strikes).
In the third, René Pinto cracked a one-out ground-rule double down the left field line (105.7 mph off the bat), Christian Cairo blooped a single into left to cover the corners, and a Baltimore chop infield single plated the first run. Philadelphia executed a double-steal to put two in scoring position, and after Fried beat EdmundoSosa for a nine-pitch strikeout, getting him to chase a 96 mph heater above the zone, a pickoff attempt at second saw the ball squirt out of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s glove, allowing Cairo to score from third. Fried was charged with the error.
Fried left a sinker over the heart of the plate to DylanMoore, who cracked an RBI single just fair down the first base line. The lefty got Brandon Marsh looking at a sweeper to end the inning on his 31st pitch of the frame.
Fried rebounded with consecutive 1-2-3 innings, needing 12 pitches in the fourth and nine in the fifth. He allowed a single to left by Sosa before getting Moore swinging on three pitches to close his day. The Opening Day starter’s final line: 5.1 innings, five hits, three runs, four strikeouts, and no walks on 75 pitches (53 strikes).
- Jake Bird was the first man out of the ‘pen and he issued a four-pitch walk to the first man he saw to put two men on base. The righty got Liover Peguero swinging and a grounder to third to strand the runners. Bird added a strikeout in the seventh, finishing his four-out day on 21 pitches (12 strikes).
- Phillies starter Bryse Wilson, a non-roster invitee to camp who pitched with the Chicago White Sox the last two years, allowed three base runners (two walks, reached on error) but no hits in three scoreless innings against the Yanks’ starters, who didn't have a great day at the plate.
- Cody Bellinger reached on an error in his first at-bat on a grounder that ate up the Phillies’ first baseman on a wild bounce. He drilled a triple into the right-center gap on a center-cut 96 mph fastball from Jonathan Bowlan with one out in the fourth, taking third on a bit of lackadaisical relay work. He finished 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Ben Rice, playing first base as he hasn’t caught a game during spring, cracked a ground-rule double in the left-center gap to start the sixth against left-hander Kyle Backhus’ side-arm delivery.
- Chisholm walked and stole second to start off the second inning, but he was then picked off second base. He finished 0-for-1 with two walks and a non-competitive, three-pitch strikeout looking against the lefty in the sixth.
- Jasson Domínguez walked his first time up and, after Chisholm was picked off, tried to steal second on the next pitch, but was erased on a good throw and tag.
Domínguez, who is on the roster bubble, cracked a two-out RBI single to put the Yanks on the board in the fourth, muscling a 96 mph fastball on the inside corner up the middle. He then stole second to put two in scoring position, but was stranded there. He bounced an infield hit to third to start the seventh and later came around to score, finishing 2-for-2 with a walk, a steal, and a caught stealing.
- Ryan McMahon made a fine play at third base to open the game by retiring Justin Crawford, son of former MLBer Carl, by charging a slow roller and making a running throw to get the Phillies speedster on a bang-bang play.
He struck out looking in his first at-bat before popping out to left with two men on to end the fourth, and finished 0-for-3. McMahon is 3-for-30 this spring.
- Giancarlo Stanton lined out to left to end the first, and went down swinging at a slider well outside the zone in the fourth before swinging through a sinker over the heart of the plate in the sixth to go 0-for-3.
- Trent Grisham popped out in foul territory with Sosa ranging over to make a nice back-handed grab by the tarp down the line in his second at-bat. He finished 0-for-3.
- José Caballero lined out to center to start the third inning and grounded out to first to start the fifth, going 0-for-2.
- J.C. Escarra had a base hit up the middle on a sharply hit grounder (104.7 mph) taken away by Sosa and lined out on a hard shot to center (103.2 mph). He went 0-for-2.
- Paul DeJong, vying for a roster spot, cracked a ground-rule double into the right-center gap in the seventh in his first at-bat and later came around to score, tying the game.
Highlights
What's next
A split-squad day on Sunday sees the Yanks host the Detroit Tigers in Tampa with Luis Gil getting the start for the 1:05 p.m. first pitch and Paul Blackburn toeing the rubber for those traveling to Sarasota to face the Baltimore Orioles at 6:05 p.m.
