Yankees 3, Twins 7: Manny Banuelos and offense struggle

David Phelps got into trouble quickly today, falling behind in the count early, and allowing two hits, and a walk in the first inning. With runners at the corners, Chris Colabello hit an RBI single before Phelps could get out of the inning. He settled down in the second inning, eliciting his second strikeout of the day. Brian Dozier started off the third inning with a home run to deep left field. By the fourth inning, Phelps left a few pitches up in the zone and it led to a Josmil Pinto single and Danny Santana double with two outs, but he was able to get out of the inning without a run. Through 4.0 innings, Phelps allowed five hits, a walk and two earned runs, along with four strikeouts.

The Yankees got on the board in the first inning and then that was it for them. Jacoby Ellsbury made it safely into second base thanks to some help from shortstop Danny Santana, who was unable to handle the throw from right field. If he had caught the ball, Ellsbury would have been out by a mile. Brian Roberts followed with a ground-rule double and an RBI single off the bat of Mark Teixeira gave the Yankees their second run. Eduardo Nunez was able to hit a groundout to score Tex. Kyle Gibson settled down after the first inning, giving up no more hits through the fourth inning.

David Herndon came out of the bullpen to start the fifth inning. He walked Brian Dozier, and after a Jason Kubel grounder, Colabello was able to hit his second RBI-single of the day to bring Dozier home and tie the game. Wilken Ramirez ended the inning by grounding into a force out, with Colabello clipping Nunez in the leg as he slid into second base. Oh, Nunez.

Manny Baneulos started the 6th inning and struggled mightily. His velocity was fine as he worked in the low-90s, but he had no command of his pitches. ManBan gave up a single and walked two to load the bases. He struck out a batter, but then gave up a ground-rule double, surrendering two runs, and that was the end of his day. Fred Lewis came in to clean up the inning, but he didn't fair much better. He allowed two runs to score on a ground ball and single before finally getting out the inning with a 3–7 deficit.

Lewis came back in for the 7th and continued to struggle. He loaded the bases after a walk and two singles, before making way for Dellin Betances, who got out of the inning with a strikeout and ground ball. Betances came back out and collected another strikeout in a 1-2-3 8th inning. He was really impressive today. James Pazos pitched the ninth and collected a strikeout in his first taste of big league camp.

Over the entire game, the Yankee offense collected three hits (all from the first inning) and a Mark Teixeira walk later on. Most of the players were brought in from minor league camp, so at least we got a look at players like Rob Refsnyder, Ben Gamel, Taylor Dugas, and Jake Cave.