Yankees Highlights: James Paxton’s debut, Troy Tulowitzki’s first home run

The Yankees now have the second game of the season under their belts, and it was an honorary Opening Day of sorts for those of us who had to work on Thursday. Today’s game had a different result, though they tried and failed to mount an epic comeback in the ninth. We’ll have a separate full recap later, but here are some highs and lows from the game.

Winner of the Game

James Paxton made his Yankees debut today, and he pitched very well overall. He got unlucky in the sixth when a bloop hit dropped in to no-man’s land, and a ground ball found a hole. The Orioles took the lead after Gary Sanchez tried to catch a runner stealing and one-hopped the ball into the outfield. Prior to that inning, Paxton allowed just one hit and struck out the side in the fifth. He walked one batter and notched five strikeouts through 5.2 innings of work.

Honorable mention: Troy Tulowitzki launched his first home run in a Yankees uniform.

Loser of the Game

Orioles’ opener Nate Karns wasted no time working into trouble this afternoon. With one out, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Luke Voit worked consecutive walks to load the bases. The Yankees had the opportunity to crack the game wide open early. Unfortunately, Miguel Andujar grounded into a double play to end the inning. He really couldn’t have had a worse outcome there. During their failed ninth inning comeback, Andujar came up with two outs and two on and struck out swinging to end the game.

Honorable mention: It was a rough day defensively. Sanchez, Luke Voit, and DJ LeMahieu were all charged with throwing errors.

Chart

Source: FanGraphs