The New York Yankees defeat the Minnesota Twins 9-7

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins by the score of 9-7 on Friday afternoon. The game took place at Lee County Sports Complex in Lee county, Florida. Ivan Nova started and didn’t pitch very well. Robinson Cano and Ronnier Mustelier each had a couple of RBI. 
Nova pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He walked one and struck out three. Jim Miller pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and picked up his first win of the spring. Branden Pinder pitched an inning giving up two hits and an unearned run and Kelvin Perez pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run.

Eduardo Nunez had two hits, Corban Joseph had two hits and an RBI and Cano had a hit and two RBI. Reegie Corona drew a walk, Juan Rivera had a hit and an RBI and Ben Francisco had a hit and an RBI. Chris Stewart had a hit and an RBI, Thomas Neal had two hits and Melky Mesa had a hit and an RBI. Mustelier had three hits and two RBI, Neal, Cano, Joseph, Stewart and Mustelier each hit a double. Joseph hit a triple and the Yankees were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Nunez and Corona each had a stolen base, Mesa, Rivera and Johnson each committed an error.

Vance Worley started for the Twins and pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs with four of them being earned. He struck out two, Brian Duensing pitched a perfect inning, Ryan Pressly pitched an inning giving up a hit and Tyler Robertson took the loss pitching an inning giving up five hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Josh Roenicke pitched a perfect inning.

Brandon Boggs had two hits and two RBI, Dan Rohlfing had a hit and an RBI and Josh Willingham drew a walk. Justin Morneau had a hit and an RBI, Ryan Doumit had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk and Trevor Plouffe had two hits. Wilkin Ramirez had three hits, Ray Olmedo had an RBI and Ramirez hit two doubles and Plouffe hit one. Morneau, Doumit and Rohlfing each hit a homerun and the Twins were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Plouffe committed an error and Boggs had an outfield assist.

Cano hit a sacrifice fly in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the second on a Mesa groundout. The Twins took a 3-2 lead in the second on back-to-back homeruns by Morneau and Doumit and a Boggs RBI single. Joseph hit an RBI triple and Cano an RBI double in the third giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Olmedo hit an RBI groundout to tie the game at four in the fourth inning. The Yankees took a 5-4 lead in the fifth and the Twins tied it in the sixth and then the rest of the runs were scored in the eighth and ninth innings. Francisco hit an RBI single, Stewart hit an RBI double and Mustelier hit a two run double to make it a 9-5 game. Boggs hit an RBI single in the eighth and Rohlfing hit a solo homerun in the ninth to complete the scoring at 9-7.

The Yankees improved their record this spring to 11-16 and the Twins are now 12-13. The Yankees will play at Detroit on Saturday afternoon and the Twins will play at Tampa Bay.