The Yankees put five consecutive runners on against David Hernández en route to six-run third as New York beat Washington, 8-2 in a rain-shortened game on Wednesday.
Newcomer Ryne Harper took over from the 34-y.o. veteran, who finished last season at AAA in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with three runs in and two runners on. Harper emptied the bases with a hit-by-pitch, a sac fly, and a wild pitch – the second of the inning with… wait for it… Raudy Read behind the plate.
Hernández and Harper weren’t helped by two errors in the frame, the first by 3B Carter Kieboom (his second in three games), the second by CF Victor Robles.
The meltdown came after two perfect innings by Joe Ross, which further solidifies his foothold for the #5 spot in the rotation (though his prior experience and lack of options kinda/sorta had him as the frontrunner anyway).
At the plate, Kieboom was hit by a pitch and walked. Read homered behind Kieboom for the two Nats runs on the day.
Luis Garcia singled in the 5th while pinch-hitting for SS Trea Turner while Jake Noll struck out in place of 2B Starlin Castro.
The loss drops the Nats to 2-3 for the Spring. They’ll return to West Palm Beach to face the Astros tonight. Max Scherzer is scheduled to make his second start. The game can be seen on MLB.tv (away feed) and heard in its entirety on MLB Audio (home or away). The “Flagship” will reportedly cut away at 7:45 p.m.