Atlanta Braves 2 — New York Yankees 3
With excitement and some anxiety, fans got to witness the Spring debut of Masahiro Tanaka. He would have a very impressive and efficient outing, throwing 19 pitches for two strikeouts and four ground outs in two perfect innings of work.
After a strong defensive play by Didi Gregorius in the third inning, he would start the bottom half of the third with a sharp triple to left-center field. Gregorius would show some smart baserunning when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a ground ball that pitcher Shelby Miller fielded with the expectation that Gregorius would be charging home but Gregorius retreated to third base, putting runners on the corners with no outs. The baserunning decision would pay off when Brett Gardner grounded into a force out at second base, scoring the first run of the game.
After four perfect innings between Tanaka and Scott Baker, the Braves would start up their offense in the fifth inning. The Braves would plate their first run on a one-out double and a two-out single. In the sixth inning, two singles and a sacrifice fly would give the Braves the lead.
In the seventh inning, Chase Headley started with a single. A one-out walk of Stephen Drew would be followed with a deep ground-rule double to center field by Jake Cave. Nick Noonan would hit a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees ahead and they would not surrender the lead.
Notably, in the fifth inning, shortstop Didi Gregorius was hit by a pitch in the back of the right leg and exited as a precautionary decision. Justin Wilson pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.
Win – Justin Wilson (1-0)
Loss – Tyrell Jenkins (0-1)
Save – Wilking Rodriguez (1)
Notables
Braves
*Todd Cunningham – 1 for 3, RBI (3)
*Christian Bethancourt – 1 for 2, 2B
Yankees
*Didi Gregorius – 1 for 1, R, 3B
*Jake Cave – 1 for 1, 2B, RBI (4)
Current Yankees Spring Record: 5-4
