Phillies Fall to Yankees 2-1, Pitching Shines Early

CLEARWATER. FL - The Phillies fell to the New York Yankees 2-1 in Spring Training action as an early pitching effort shined. 

Zack Wheeler began the afternoon on the mound for the Phillies, recording three innings of scoreless and hitless baseball while raking in three strikeouts. Mick Abel followed suit with 1.2 innings of scoreless and hitless ball himself.

Tyler McKay, Connor Brogdon, and Andrew Bellatti followed in order - combining to allow just a hit through seven innings. 

In the eighth, however, the Phils made their first and only slip-up of the day. Luis Ortiz hung a high breaking ball over the plate and Oscar Gonzales smacked it into the bullpens in left-center field, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. 

Despite a futile effort from David Dahl in the ninth inning which ended with a sacrifice RBI that scored Weston Wilson, making it 2-1 - the Phils would fall to the Yanks. 

With the loss, the Phils fall to 6-8 on the Grapefruit League season and will take the afternoon off tomorrow before taking on the Tigers for a 1:05 pm first pitch on Wednesday afternoon.