Sure, wins and losses in spring training don’t matter, but results matter to some degree, and you would generally prefer to see your team’s players put up good ones. In Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals, there were some pretty good results for the Yankees all around.
Led by starter Will Warren, Yankee pitching combined to shutout the Cardinals, allowing just three hits in the process, and striking out 12 in total. Meanwhile, the lineup featured a top six that will all be Opening Day starters as long as they’re healthy. Of those six, five reached base at least once, with the quartet of Jasson Domínguez, Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, and Austin Wells all recording RBI hits. There wasn’t much bad to say in general about Wednesday’s game, as the Yankees came away with an easy 7-0 over the Cardinals.
After a quiet first couple innings, the game’s first hit and first run came on the same swing from Dominic Smith in the third. The Yankees’ spring invite crushed a home run to right field to open the scoring.
Two batters later, Oswald Peraza ran out an infield single on a high chopper, starting another run-scoring rally, from the part of the order you want to see good things from. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a walk, Jasson Domínguez singled to score another run. Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt — against his former team — then both added RBI singles of their own. To top it all off, Austin Wells — in his first game of the spring — hit a bases clearing double, as the Yankees put up a six-spot in the third inning.
Will Warren started the game on the mound for the Yankees, against a decently strong Cardinals’ lineup. While he’s likely only set to be rotation depth to open the season, Warren looked the part in this game. He threw three perfect innings, striking out four batters, including Masyn Winn and Nolan Arenado.
Among the notable relievers to take the mound for the Yankees was Mark Leiter Jr. in the fifth. He threw a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout. Other arms to get some time in the game included Yoendrys Gómez, Brent Headrick, Rob Zastryzny, and Leonardo Pestana. Gómez was the best of that bunch, striking out two in a scoreless fourth inning.
The backups picked up another run for the Yankees late in the game. With two outs, catcher Jesus Rodriguez hit a deep fly ball to center field that St. Louis’ Bryan Torres managed to track down, but then bobbled and dropped. That allowed Rodriguez to motor around to third. After T.J. Rumfield was hit by a pitch, Andrew Velazquez cashed in with a single. Velazquez also sent us home with a highlight, as he ended the game with a very nice diving stop to start a double play for the final outs of the ninth.
Tomorrow, the Yankees will head back out on the road, as they go to Clearwater to play the Phillies. Carlos Rodón is scheduled to get the start there for his second game of the spring. Unfortunately, it does not appear that we’ll have any broadcast for the game, first pitch of which is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET.
Box score
