Play ball!
After months of waiting out a long, grueling lockout, baseball finally returned in the form of game action on Friday afternoon in Florida. And on the mound for the New York Yankees in their first spring game of the season was Hayden Wesneski who spent the second half of last season with the Somerset Patriots.
Wesneski got the start on Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was mighty impressive. He held Pittsburgh to just a run on three hits over three innings of work. He also struck out four batters and walked one.
Yankees #15 overall prospect Hayden Wesneski has a ridiculous slider pic.twitter.com/31yNiUJgCw
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) March 18, 2022
Meanwhile, Isiah-Kiner Falefa, whom the Yankees acquired from the Minnesota Twins last weekend, was 2-for-3 with a run scored in his Yankees spring training debut. He scored the first run of the day for the Yankees in the top of the first inning on a base hit by Austin Wells.
Anthony Volpe struck out in his only at bat of the afternoon.
Joey Gallo played left field and was 0-for-2 with a walk, and a strikeout. Anthony Rizzo didn’t make the trip.
Other members of the 2021 Somerset Patriots who stood out included: Jose Peraza was 0-for-3 with a RBI; Michael Beltre was 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts and Estevan Florial was 0-for-1 with a walk. Ronnie Marinaccio tossed a no-hit inning in relief with a walk and two Ks.
Yankees lost 4-3.