Jonathan Loaisiga has uneven outing, Yankees lose to Cardinals 5-9

Another day, another Yankees spring training game in the books. Opening Day is just over three weeks away now! It was pitching that doomed the Bombers today, and Jonathan Loaisiga didn’t do much to separate himself from Domingo German or Luis Cessa. The Yankees wasted some opportunities to get back in the game, and ended up losing to the Cardinals 5-9.

Here are three key points from the game:

1. Loaisiga’s audition to fill Luis Severino’s spot in the rotation had mixed results. On the plus side, he notched five strikeouts through 2.1 innings. He also gave up a solo home run, however, then got into serious trouble in the third. He surrendered back-to-back doubles, then issued a one-out walk. Joe Harvey took over at that point, and wasn’t able to clean up the mess. Two more runs scored, leaving Loaisiga responsible for four earned runs when all was said and done.

2. The Yankees’ issues with runners in scoring position resurfaced today. The bottom of the fourth inning started with a lead-off single off the bat of Gleyber Torres. DJ LeMahieu followed with a double to center but Torres was held up at third. With one out, Austin Romine walked to load the bases. Tyler Wade and Brett Gardner proceeded to strike out to end the inning.

3. Speaking of Romine, he was solely responsible for all of the runs that the Yankees scored through the first eight innings today (the kids pushed two runs across in the ninth). He hit a three-run bomb in the second to put them on the board. Consider this my formal apology for calling him out for a bad game during my last recap.

Highlight of the Game

Tomorrow the Yankees will take on the Phillies in Clearwater. James Paxton will make his third start of the spring. The game begins at 1:05 ET and you can catch it on MLB.tv.