New York Yankees lose last exhibition game in Atlanta

New York Yankees were defeated by the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.  The game took place at Sun Trust Park in Atlanta, Georgia and the final score was 8-5.  Michael Pineda started for the Yankees and he pitched ok.  Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird each had two hits to lead the offense. 

Pineda pitched five innings giving up six hits and three runs with a walk and six strikeouts.  Aroldis Chapman pitched to one batter and struck him out, Tommy Layne pitched to one batter and retired him and Dellin Betances took his first loss of the spring giving up two hits and two runs without recording an out.  Jonathan Holder pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and three runs with two walks.  Bryan Mitchell pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Chasen Shreve pitched to two batters and retired them both and Ben Heller pitched to one batter and retired him. 

Sanchez had two hits, Bird had two hits and two RBI and Mike Ford had a hit.  Chris Carter had a hit and an RBI, Aaron Hicks drew a walk and Dustin Fowler had a hit and two RBI.  Rob Refsnyder had a hit, Rashad Crawford drew a walk and Ronald Torreyes had a hit.  Sanchez, Ford and Fowler each hit a double.  Bird and Carter each hit a homerun and the Yankees were 3-10 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Kozma had a stolen base and Andujar committed an error. 

In the third Bird hit a two-run homerun giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.  In the third Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homerun giving the Braves a 3-2 lead.  IN the sixth Fowler hit a two-run double to give the Yankees back the lead at 4-3.  In the bottom of the sixth Kurt Suzuki reached on an error and a run scored to tie the game at four.  A walk made it 5-4 Atlanta and Jace Peterson hit a three-run double to make it 8-4.  Carter hit a solo homerun in the seventh to cut the lead to 8-5 and that would be the final score. 

The Yankees finished the spring with a 24-9-1 record.  They will be off on Saturday and open the season Sunday afternoon in Tampa Bay.  Masahiro Tanaka will start for the Yankees and go up against Chris Archer.  The Yankees will have the rookies in Bird, Sanchez and Judge starting and look to have Sanchez in the two hole with Ellsbury being dropped down to five.  It should be interesting to see the young kids in action.