Yankees Crush 3 Homers in 12-5 Win Over Mets

TAMPA, Fla. - Hoy Jun Park and Estevan Florial both homered in the first, Angel Aguilar crushed a three-run shot in the fourth and Tampa (32-15, 71-46) defeated St. Lucie (20-28, 53-63), 12-5, in front of a crowd of 4,619 on Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Yankees have now won six-straight games and 14-straight home games.
Tampa opened the contest by scoring six unanswered runs off RHP Nabil Crismatt.
Park jumped on a first-pitch fastball and belted it over the wall in right-center for a leadoff home run in the first. Two batters later, Florial crushed a solo blast over the wall in right, giving the T-Yanks a 2-0 lead. It was the first homers for both players since joining the Yankees from Single-A Charleston on August 1st.
Five-straight batters got on base for Tampa in the second. Alexander Palma reached on an error by third-baseman Jhoan Urena and advanced to third on a base hit by Devyn Bolasky before scoring on a single by Aguilar. Park followed with a bunt single and Kyle Holder bounced a ground-rule double into the right field bullpen, scoring Bolasky. Florial tacked on a sacrifice fly, scoring Park for a 6-0 lead.
Palma blasted a double off the left field in the third and scored when Aguilar laced a two-out, ground-rule double down the left field line. Crismatt walked the next three batters, including an RBI base-on-balls worked by Florial.
Crismatt (L, 4-11) allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in three innings, walking four while striking out two and throwing 41 of 74 pitches for strikes.
RHP Adonis Rosa received his call-up from Charleston on Tuesday and made the start in his Tampa debut. The 22-year-old put up three-straight zeros before the Mets got to him in the fourth.
Patrick Mazeika drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a base hit by Anthony Dimino before scoring on a single to left by Tim Tebow. Wuilmer Becerra followed with a single to right, scoring Dimino and sending Tebow to third. A sacrifice fly by J.C. Rodriguez plated Tebow, cutting the Yankees lead to 8-3.
Tampa responded by scoring four runs off RHP Alex Palsha in the bottom of the fourth. A second error by Urena allowed Donny Sands to reach with one out. After a walk by Palma, Bolasky lined an RBI single into left. Aguilar followed with a three-run homer over the wall in left-centerfield.
Peter Alonso and Urena both singled and scored on a two-out, two-run single by Dimino in the fifth. Palma ended the inning by throwing out Dimino stretching for second.
Rosa (W, 1-0) held the Mets to five earned runs on eight hits in five innings, walking two while striking out three and throwing 64 of 97 pitches for strikes.
LHP Caleb Frare tossed two scoreless innings in relief of Rosa, yielding a hit while striking out two. RHP Jordan Foley faced the minimum while tallying two strikeouts in the eighth and ninth.
Aguilar (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 5RBI, 3R) clubbed his second home run and finished a triple shy of the cycle while tying a career-best with 5 RBI. Park (2-for-4, HR, BB, RBI, 2R), Holder (2-for-4, 2B, BB, 2RBI) and Bolasky (2-for-4, RBI, 2R) also had multi-hit games. Florial (1-for-3, HR, BB, Sac-F, 3RBI, R) has hit safely in all nine games since rejoining Tampa, batting .324 (12-for-37) with 7RBI in that span.
The series continues on Saturday when RHP Erik Swanson (5-2, 4.15 ERA) squares off against RHP Yeizo Campos (0-0, -.-- ERA) at 6:30 p.m As part of Blue's Back to School Party, the first 1,000 kids ages 14 & younger will get a new drawstring bag, courtesy of OneMain Financial. Fans are invited to stay after the game for fireworks, presented by Spectrum.
On Salute to Service Members Saturday, all Military members receive a free upper reserved ticket with a valid ID. Select T-Yanks will sign autographs on the concourse from 5:40 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. For tickets and promotional information, call (813) 673-3055 or visit www.tybaseball.com.