A third straight day of John and Suzyn on WFAN’s airwaves on Monday, as the iconic duo called the Yankees’ 11-7 win over the Tigers on WFAN-AM and our WFAN2 stream on a warm afternoon in Florida.
The Yankees are now 4-6-1 on the spring and have just eight games left on the exhibition slate, so as Yogi Berra once said, it’s getting late early down in Florida. Still, the Bombers’ second straight spring win brought some nice takeaways as they head down the second half of their Grapefruit slate. The three stars of the game:
GUZMAN’S BIG DAY
There doesn’t necessarily seem to be a place on the 26-man (or even 28-man) roster for Guzman, who is in camp as a minor-league invitee, but if he has a few more days like Monday, the lefty masher might find himself in pinstripes sooner than later.
The bad news is that Guzman, serving as the DH, struck out looking to end the second inning. However, in his next three at-bats, the 27-year-old had a two-run double to left, a two-run single to left, and an RBI single to center. All in all, a 3-for-4 day with five RBI and two runs scored for Guzman, who drove in or scored seven of the 11 runs.
It’s likely that Guzman is ticketed for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with both Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu healthy, but much as Mike Ford did in 2020, Guzman could burst on the scene if called upon and seems to be a huge insurance policy at worst.
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DEIVI DAZZLES AND GIL DEALS
The Yankees’ starting depth took a hit when Domingo German went on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder issue, but two of the team’s biggest rotation depth pieces had a great day Monday.
Deivi Garcia started in his second spring appearance and had another strong outing, allowing one run on two hits, with one strikeout, in three innings. Garcia allowed a solo homer to No. 9 hitter Dustin Garneau in the third, but outside of that, his only other blemish was a Jeimer Candelario’s looping single to center field in the second (which was promptly erased on an inning-ending double play) and he threw 24 of his 37 pitches for strikes.
Garcia allowed just one hit in two innings in his first spring outing, and so far has looked like the Deivi that was on the Yankees; 2020 postseason roster, not the one who struggled at Triple-A in 2021.
Luis Gil took over in the fifth after three innings of Garcia and one from Aroldis Chapman, and he, too, shined, tossing three scoreless innings while allowing one hit and one walk and fanning four. The hit was an infield grounder that Gleyber Torres snagged but fell down while throwing, and the walk was issued to Candelario after Gil had retired six in a row after that single by Jonathan Schoop.
Gil and Garcia, along with Clarke Schmidt, will be important pieces for the Yankees this season behind their starting five, and a day where they combined for six innings of one-run, three-hit ball against much of the Tigers’ projected regular lineup is quite promising.
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COOPER BOWMAN, WHAT A SHOWMAN!
Plenty of other items of note, including two-hit days for Tim Locastro and Max McDowell and an effectively wild outing for Aroldis Chapman, but we have to give the “third star” as it were to Bowman, the Yankees’ fourth-round pick in 2020.
John & Suzyn had yet to see Bowman, but he gave them a lasting memory: pinch-hitting for Gleyber Torres with two outs in the sixth, smacked a bomb of a three-run homer to right-center to give the Yankees a 9-1 lead at the time.
Bowman, a second baseman, hit .237 with three homers in 27 games at Low-A Tampa last season and will likely start there in 2022, but add another middle infield prospect to watch as he likely forms a double-play combo with first-round pick Trey Sweeney at High-A Hudson Valley to start the season.
The Yankees will be on our air four more times this week, starting Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. when John & Suzyn will have the call of Yankees-Blue Jays. From there, Yankees vs. Tigers will air at 1 p.m. Friday on WFAN-AM and the WFAN2 stream like Monday’s game did, and all platforms will carry Saturday’s game with the Braves and Sunday’s game with the Blue Jays, both starting at 1 p.m.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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