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The Yankees faced an unconventional opponent at George M. Steinbrenner Field today: the Panamanian national team. With the World Baseball Classic on the horizon, the majority of the tournament’s participants played against MLB teams in exhibition contests today. This was one of the more lopsided results: the Yankees had little trouble scoring against Panama’s pitching staff as they cruised to an 11-1 victory in eight innings. Max Fried also threw three scoreless frames in his first Grapefruit League start; friend-turned-foe José Caballero went 0-for-2 with a walk.
The Yankees wasted no time grabbing the initiative this afternoon. A Trent Grisham walk and Jasson Domínguez single set the table with two outs for Ryan McMahon, who lined a single to center to plate both runners and give the Bombers an early 2-0 advantage against Panama starter Jorge Garcia.
Meanwhile, Fried evidently had his groundball stuff working today, as he forced inning-ending double plays in each of the first two innings. The latter twin killing against Christian Bethancourt came with two runners on base as Panama attempted to respond to the Yankees’ scoring outburst. In the third, Fried battled current Yankee teammate José Caballero with two outs; Caballero fouled off several consecutive 3-2 offerings before working a walk on Fried’ ninth pitch. He then went straight back to the dugout when Fried struck out Allen Córdoba to retire the side.
Garcia was relieved by Miguel Cienfuegos, a journeyman reliever in the Padres organization who was actually born in Quebec. Cienfuegos did an excellent job in relief of Garcia, facing the minimum in scoreless two innings of work.
Tim Hill took over for Fried in the fourth inning. Mission accomplished for No. 54, whose fastball topped out at 97 mph this afternoon. He issued three walks, but his ability to keep Panama on the ground prevented any of those free passes from haunting him. The rest of the overall line was three scoreless innings with one hit and one strikeout.
The scrappy Panamanian lineup kept getting runners aboard, but couldn’t find a way to get them in. In the fourth they got two more men on-base against Hill, but Bethancourt flew out on a first-pitch sinker.
Cienfuegos may have had the key to neutralizing the Yankees’ lineup today, but that boon did not extend to the rest of Panama’s pitchers. In the fourth, Erian Rodriguez took over and immediately surrendered a pair of singles to Giancarlo Stanton and McMahon, the former cracking it off the bat at 114.3 mph:
After a walk loaded the bases, J.C. Escarra plated Stanton on a sac fly, then a Max Schuemann 4-6 fielder’s choice ushered in McMahon.
Rodriguez’s troubles continued when he issued two walks to reload the bags for Ben Rice. That forced manager Jose Mayorga to make a change for Kentucky native Mason Vinyard (he’s not actually on Team Panama, he’s in the Yankees’ organization and was made available to Panama if they didn’t want to push their pitching staff). The new hurler was no more capable of throwing strikes; Rice worked a walk to score Schuemann and extend the lead to 5-0 before Domínguez finally rolled over to first.
By this point the Yanks had found plenty of different ways to score, but they had yet to leave the yard until the fifth, when J.C. Escarra pulled his hands in on an Alberto Baldonado fastball and pulled it to right for a line drive homer. Escarra’s first homer of the spring made it 7-0 Bombers.
By the sixth inning, all of the Yankees’ substitutions were in the game, but that didn’t stop the scoring. They loaded the bases again and Jorbit Vivas made good on the rally with a sac fly. Then catcher Ali Sánchez poked an RBI single to left for good measure, growing the margin to 9-0.
Team Panama finally got themselves off the board in the top of the eighth inning thanks to the speed of Orioles prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. Bradfield got aboard on an infield single against Osvaldo Bido, then promptly stole second and third in quick succession. Then Rubén Tejada—yes, that Rubén Tejada—brought him in on a groundball to first. That speed from Bradfield is what Panama is looking to exploit in the tournament; and frankly, few if any of the lineups they’ll face in Pool A will be as threatening as the Yankee lineup they battled today (even without Aaron Judge).
Then again, that only really extends to the starters—the reserves had their way with these pitchers, too. The defense wasn’t helping matters either. Panama got into their third bases-loaded jam of the game in the eighth thanks to an error on a fielder’s choice. That set up Vivas again, and he stroked a single the other way to score two runs and … end the ballgame.
So this is where I found out the game was being played by World Baseball Classic rules, with a 10-run mercy rule after seven. There was of course no TV or radio broadcast to clue me into this fact. Once the score got to 11-1, the game was marked final on MLB.com. So technically, Vivas got himself a walk-off single in the eighth.
By the way, over in Team USA’s exhibition against the Giants that began a couple hours later, the captain Judge kept himself busy with an RBI single in the first. He walked and singled again before departing as scheduled.
The Yankees will return to traditional Grapefruit League play tomorrow when they head to Fort Myers and take on the Red Sox in the first rivalry game of the spring. Luis Gil will oppose Boston ace Garrett Crochet, with coverage on ESPN and first pitch at 1:05 PM.