Photo of Nick Pivetta courtesy of Frank Klose/Sports Talk Philly
By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
Final: New York Yankees 6, Philadelphia Phillies 4 ❖ Attendance: 6,642
Clearwater, FLA — With today's loss to the New York Yankees (6-1), the Philadelphia Phillies (1-6) have now lost five straight games this spring. The Phillies' pitchers struggled to keep the ball in the ballpark. Five of the Yankees' six runs came from solo home-runs, including two by Miguel Andujar. Although the Phillies struck out 11 batters, they also walked seven, which needs to change moving forward.
The Phils' bats didn't do much damage today. Aaron Altherr hit his first homer of the spring, Pedro Florimon got on base and scored two runs and Matt McBride knocked in three runs, but outside of those contributions, the offense was rather quiet. New Phillie Carlos Santana has yet to get a hit this spring and the team as a whole struck out eight times in the game.
WP: C.C. Sabathia (1-0, 0.00 ERA) ❖ LP: Nick Pivetta (0-2, 7.36 ERA) ❖ SV: Ben Heller (1)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| NYY | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| PHI |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
The Yankees took an early lead. Designated hitter Miguel Andujar led off the second inning with a solo home-run. After striking out Danny Espinosa, Phillies starter Nick Pivetta allowed back-t0-back walks to Tyler Austin and Austin Romine. Austin went to third on a fly out by Jace Peterson, but that didn't make much of a difference, as Jake Cave walked to load the bases. This marked the end of Pivetta's outing. Reliever Pedro Beato was able to get the final out of the inning.
The Yankees added onto their lead in the third. With two outs, Andujar hit his second solo homer of the game. At that point, he had seen two pitches and hit them both out of the ballpark. Espinosa followed with a single, but was ultimately stranded, as Austin flew out for the third out.
The Phillies got one back in their half of the fourth inning. After a strike-out by Carlos Santana, outfielder Aaron Altherr hit a home-run over the left field wall. One out later, J.P. Crawford singled. However, he didn't advance any further, as Jorge Alfaro lined out for the final out.
The Yankees continued their scoring in the fifth. Brandon Drury led off the inning with a solo homer off of Phils pitcher Zach Eflin. The next three hitters were retired in order to limit the damage to one run.
In the sixth, the Yankees yet again scored a single run. Austin led off the inning with a home-run to center field. Between the efforts of Eflin and fellow Phils pitcher Seranthony Dominguez, the next three batters were retired on strike-outs to end the inning.
The Phils got that run back in the bottom of the frame. Pedro Florimon led off the inning with a double to center field. Roman Quinn followed with a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs for Heiker Meneses. He successfully put down a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners up to second and third. Matt McBride followed with a ground out that scored Florimon and made it a 4-2 ballgame. Andrew Pullin struck out for the final out.
The Yankees continued scoring in the top of the seventh. Estevan Florial hit a lead off triple. Ronald Torreyes knocked him in on a sacrifice fly. Keeping with the theme of the game, Billy McKinney followed with a solo homer to right field. Between both teams, six solo home-runs were hit. After McKinney's homer, Andujar was retired for the first time in the game. Kyle Holder singled, but was stranded when Ryan McBroom struck out to end the frame.
The Phillies made their last push for a comeback in the eighth inning. Florimon got it started with a single to center. Quinn and Meneses followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases. McBride doubled down the left field line to score Florimon and Quinn to make it a 6-4 game. The Yankees then made a pitching change, which proved to be the right move, as the next three Phillies hitters were retired on a pop out, a strike out, and a fly out. Meneses and McBride were stranded. Ultimately, it was too little, too late.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.C. Sabathia | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nick Pivetta | 1.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7.36 |
Yankees
- Miguel Andujar: 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, .429 AVG
- Brandon Drury: 1-3, R, HR, RBI, .375 AVG
- Tyler Austin: 1-2, R, HR, RBI, .091 AVG
Phillies
- Aaron Altherr: 1-2, R, HR, RBI, .444 AVG
- Matt McBride: 1-2, 2B, 3 RBI, .125 AVG
- Pedro Florimon: 2-3, 2 R, 2B, .182 AVG
Yankees
- Domingo German (3rd, 4th, 5th): 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 1.80 ERA
- Wade LeBlanc (6th, 7th): 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.08 ERA
- Giovanny Gallegos (8th): 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 9.00 ERA
- Ben Heller (8th, 9th): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 1.80 ERA
Phillies
- Pedro Beato (2nd, 3rd): 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR, 7.71 ERA
- Zach Eflin (4th, 5th, 6th): 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 2 HR, 6.23 ERA
- Seranthony Dominguez (6th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
- Pat Neshek (7th): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR, 18.00 ERA
- Francisco Rodriguez (8th): 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
- Hoby Milner (8th): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
- Victor Arano (9th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 3.00 ERA
- Friday, March 2, 2018: at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:05 p.m.
- Charlotte Sports Park, Port Charlotte, Fla.
- RHP Aaron Nola (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Blake Snell (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
- TV: N/A; Radio: MLB.com
