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The New York Yankees were able to piece together six runs between the seventh and eighth innings and hold off the Washington Nationals today by the score of 8-5.
Michael Pineda, who started his third game of the spring, managed to strike out two of the first three batters he faced to begin the game. He displayed a great slider and tossed his changeup as well.
However, his fastball velocity remains down around 90-92 mph. With Opening Day just slightly over three weeks away, you better believe Joe Girardi is taking notes now more than ever. Pineda lasted only 3 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out four and walking one. He surrendered a RBI double to Adam LaRoche in the fourth inning and walked Jayson Werth before being pulled by Girardi.
New York's offensive production was kicked off by Bill Hall's two-run double in the third inning to give New York a 2-0 lead.
After going down 3-2, RBI singles from Jose Gil, Justin Maxwell and JR Murphy in the seventh inning gave the Yankees a 5-3 edge. The other three runs came from a fielder's choice ground out, passed ball and sacrifice fly.
The only every day players that played today were Brett Gardner and Russell Martin. Gardner had a horrible afternoon, compiling a hat trick of strikeouts, and Martin went 1 for 3.