The Yankees sent a split squad to Sarasota, Fla., Friday night but could not maintain an early lead and lost 7-6 on a walk-off to the Baltimore Orioles in spring training.
Here are the takeaways…
1. Facing Baltimore’s Opening Day starter Kyle Gibson, the Yankees wasted no time in starting the offense early. After back-to-back hits from DJ Lemahieu and Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera lifted a three-run home run to left field to put New York on the board first. In the opening frame, the Yankees posted three runs on four straight hits and forced Gibson to throw over 30 pitches. One inning later, Kyle Higashioka hit a three-run home run of his own to double the early lead to 6-0.
2. After Gerrit Cole pitched for New York in Tampa, Fla., Friday afternoon, Yoendrys Gomez took the ball in the night game. His fastball touched 97 miles per hour as he worked with plenty of run support. The Orioles broke through in the third with RBI singles from Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson. Gomez went 3.2 innings, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out two.
3. In the New York bullpen, Ian Hamilton added two more innings to a spring with plenty of work in relief for the Yankees. The right-hander tossed two scoreless with one walk and one strikeout.
4. In the eighth inning, the Orioles broke the game’s scoring drought back to the third inning. Kyle Stowers doubled in two runs and Frederick Bencosme’s sacrifice fly brought the game within a run. Later in the frame, Ryan McKenna singled off of Barrett Loseke to even the game at six. in the ninth Josh Lester hit a game-winning double to complete the comeback of five unanswered runs.
5. Four different Yankees tallied multiple hits on Friday night in Lemahieu, Peraza, Cabrera and Higashioka. The two lineups offered productive nights with a combined 25 hits between New York and Baltimore.
The loss followed a 6-4 defeat to Minnesota earlier on Friday afternoon. New York fell to 10-17 in Grapefruit League play entering the final weekend of spring training.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees travel to Clearwater, Fla., Saturday for a 1:05 pm matinee against the Philadelphia Phillies.