I think it may be possible there’s some risk in trading for Rockies relievers. The org isn’t exactly known for churning out well-developed arms, and Angel Chivilli is having a nightmare of a spring training. The Yankees got a good start from Max Fried — save one bad frame — and clawed their way out of a couple deficits, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a late home run in Saturday’s 6-4 loss to Philadelphia.
Max Fried was perfect through his first two innings until being clipped a few times in the third. René Pinto got around on a ball that ended up being an automatic double, before a pair of singles brought him around to score. The second single was partially Fried’s fault, as he didn’t do enough to get over to first and turn the hit into a run-scoring out. For a guy as good defensively as Max is, you’ll chalk that up to bad play, so let’s get those bad plays out in March, not September.
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Another flub came after a double steal, where Fried lost the handle on a pickoff attempt at third, and a final single from Dylan Moore put the Phillies up 3-0. Max wasn’t exactly hit hard at all, but struggled with command in the zone and certainly did himself no favors on the defensive side of things. I have full confidence in him putting together another excellent season if he stays healthy, but that third inning wasn’t much fun for anyone in pinstripes. If nothing else, he was able to finish two more innings cleanly, leaving the game with one out in the sixth.
Offensively, it seemed the Yankees were getting some baserunning work in, with both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez swiping a bag and making an out on the basepaths. Jasson was caught by the catcher while Jazz was picked off at second, but between those two and José Caballero, it feels like the club is going to be more dynamic once on base than most recent Yankee squads. The Martian also chipped in with an RBI single, his 10th run driven in of Grapefruit League play.
Jake Bird had himself a decent enough outing. He did walk the first man he faced but ended up recording four outs, two via the strikeout, in something of a cauterizing effort. Bird has not been a representative MLB player since leaving Colorado — honestly maybe even before that — but putting up zeros in spring is the first step to getting back to being a valuable member of an MLB roster.
The Yankees got their runs back in the bottom of the seventh, with Domínguez once again in the thick of it. A hustle single got him on base, moving to third on Paul DeJong’s autodouble, and coming in to score on a groundout. Marco Luciano grounded a ball to left field to bring in DeJong, and we were all tied up. Both teams also pushed across a run in their eighth innings, with the Yankees’ courtesy of Braden Shewmake:
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Unfortunately I don’t think Angel Chivilli will be breaking camp with the MLB team. The winter acquisition has struggled in camp, and while pitching the ninth gave up a bomb to center field that put the Phillies up 6-4. He did get a pair of strikeouts, but the righty has an unsightly 14.85 ERA in exhibition play. I think he needs to work on some things down in Triple-A.
The club went down quietly in the ninth, making the home run by Phillies minor leaguer Felix Reyes the eventual game-winner. We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon with another spring showdown, with the Yankees welcoming the Tigers to Tampa. Luis Gil gets the ball for that outing, with first pitch at 1:05pm ET.
