The New York Yankees defeat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 in grapefruit league opener

The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 8-3 on Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Florida. David Phelps got the start for the Yankees and pitched two scoreless innings picking up the win. He was the only major league pitcher to pitch for the Yankees in the game. Zoilo Almonte was impressive with a homerun and throwing out a runner at third from right field. Francisco Cervelli threw a runner out at second as the battle for starting catcher began. Robinson Cano also hit a homerun in the game. 
Phelps pitched two innings giving up three hits and no runs. He didn’t walk a batter or strikeout a batter. Brett Marshall pitched two innings giving up a hit, a run, a walk and striking out two, Nik Turley pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Mikey O’Brien pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout. Kelvin Perez pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Branden Pinder pitched a perfect inning and Chase Whitley pitched an inning walking one.

Paul Maholm started for the Braves and pitched two perfect innings. Jordan Walden the former closer of the Angels really got hit. He pitched one inning giving up three hits and four runs with one of them being earned. Anthony Varvaro pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Yohan Flande pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run and J.R. Graham pitched an inning giving up a hit and walking two. Walden took the loss.

Eduardo Nunez had a hit, Robinson Cano had a hit and an RBI as he hit a homerun and Mark Teixeira had an RBI. Juan Rivera had a hit and drew a walk, Austin Romine had a hit and two RBI and Francisco Cervelli drew a walk. Zoilo Almonte was the star with a hit and two RBI and he had an outfield assist. The Yankees were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Melky Mesa had a stolen base. Almonte threw a guy out at third from right field and Cervelli threw out a runner trying to steal second base. Corban Joseph committed an error.

Reed Johnson had a hit, Freddie Freeman had a couple of hits and Evan Gattis had two hits and two RBI for the Braves. Todd Cunningham, Christian Bethancourt and Jose Yepez each had a hit and Chris Johnson had an RBI. Gattis and Bethancourt had a double and Gattis also hit a homerun. The Braves were 0-7 with seven runners left on base. Cunningham was caught stealing, Freeman, Johnson and Uggla each committed an error. Bethancourt had a passed ball.

The Yankees scored four runs in the third on a two run homerun by Almonte a Teixeira RBI groundout and a wild pitch to score a run. Atlanta scored in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Johnson and the Yankees got the run right back in the fifth. Cano hit a solo homerun to make it 5-1 Yankees. Gattis hit a two run homerun in the sixth to cut the Yankees lead to 5-3 but the Yankees scored three runs in the seventh to make it 8-3 and that would be the final score. Jose Pirela had an RBI single and Romine had a two run single.

The Yankees are 1-0 in the grapefruit league and the Braves are 0-2. The Yankees will play their first home game of the schedule on Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Braves will play at the Pittsburgh Pirates.