New York Yankees vs Washington Nationals - Spring Training Highlights (2-25-26)

Ryan Weathers, you see, was 2-2 in 8 starts. He had some injuries last year with a 3-9-9, but... Like father, like son. His father was traded to the New York Yankees the end of July 1996. Well, he was in January of 2026. The Yankees acquired him on January 13th, and he's on the mound for the first time facing C.J. Abrams. First pitch of the game, in there for a strike as we take a look at the Yankees' defense. And we're also getting a look at Jason Dominguez tonight, Joe. Well, I think it's important that he gets as many at-bats as he can against left-handers, and he's going to see a left-hander probably get two at-bats off of him early in this game tonight, so I think that's good for him. Who he'd been following since he was in high school. That was when Blake was with Cleveland. Swung grounded hard back up the middle, and DeYoung perfectly positioned to make the out. Here's Dylan Cruz. The president of baseball operations, Paul Tabani, is 36. Not that long ago, but he's already at this level. He's done a lot of different things. He's managed in the minor leagues. There's strike three. Big-time catching prospect in the offseason. Ruiz pops this up. Shallow left. Out on the grass to Young. Calls everybody off and makes the catch. Side retired as Ryan Weathers retires him in order. Josiah Gray should be back, but that fifth spot is a competition. First pitch that Rosario sees. He belts it deep into right field near the wall. Weaver, and it is gone for a home run. Ahmed Rosario continuing to do damage against lefties. A home run, his first of the spring, and the Yankees up 1-0. Welcome to your first start in spring training, young fella. Yeah, that's what Ahmed Rosario was here to. He's here to pound lefties. He's done it his whole career. From getting those at-bats. Now, one thing I can tell you, he did play winter ball to try to work on his swing as we see a strikeout here. I'm sure Ahmed showed him a lot of different ways. There's an outstanding fastball. 100. I said 99. I guess I lied. Yeah, that'll play. Yeah, that will definitely play. You're going to see, this is pain. I mean, you're throwing 100, and he puts it right there. He's mixed his change in. A little bit of everything. Smoke shot on the ground. Lamar Jr. right there, picked out of the dirt by Rice. Good play, corner-to-corner of the Yankee infield. And Weathers is through two scoreless. He said the staff and the guy that you trusted all the time is not out there. Right in front of Kiebert-Ruiz. Couldn't stay with it, and it trickles away. You've got to take advantage of it. So, Iscara's on first. Here's Max Schumann. Also has some speed. This one's bucketed. Over first. And Iscara's going to head to third. Sliding into second will be Max Schumann. So, the Yankees catching a couple of breaks to start the bottom of the second. They had two pitchers in their minor league who was in double A. One was throwing 100. The other one was throwing like 98. This ball gets away from Ruiz, and it allows Iscara to score easily. So, Iscara, with a quick trip around after a couple of pitches. This is a Q&A with Steve Serby of The Post earlier this spring. And he was asked about mound mentality as he strikes out Ortiz for out number one. 17 pickoffs for Weathers since 2021. Tied for fourth most in major league baseball. Chopped to short. A play for DeJong. To second for one. Over to first. It's a double play to Andy Inning. He's not tall. He gets a ton of strike calls at the top of the zone that are actual balls. And certainly they're balls now. For the WBC, so it's a chance for them to make an impression on what I'm doing. Right into right center. Base hit for Ornelas. Schumann coming around from third to score. And Ornelas has himself an RBI single. It's 3-0 Yankees. That's the tunneling that pitchers try to do. And Rosario pops it up. Shallow center. Dylan Cruz comes under and he drops it. He dropped the ball. Coming in to score from second is Ornelas. And the Yankees pick up another run here in the fourth inning. Any time for a strike that he wants. Just like that. It's Wehmer in front of Lombard Jr. and he gets him. What a play by George Lombard Jr. at the hot corner. Yeah, and that's a really good play because Joey Wehmer runs really, really well. He really gets down the line. Head start because he's leaning towards it. See the quick release. An accurate throw. He only started about 11 games, I believe, at third base last year. And you see him make this play. He has a gift for defense. Joey Wehmer back in the fifth inning. The top of the fifth, rather. And he smacks it in the air. Pretty deep. Over his head and off the base of the wall. Scoring is DeYoung. In to score is Schumann. It's a two-run double for George Lombard Jr. The Yankees have done such a great job of taking advantage of every Washington National miscue tonight. He jumps all over this fastball that's up in the zone. Short hops the wall. Good base running. 2-2. Right on the outside corner, the four-seamer called. Strike three. 4.44 mark. The rest of the season. As he gets Franklin to swing over the splitter. Here's the one-two. He got him. The splitter for strike three. Three straight strikeouts for Fernando Cruz here at the top of the sixth. You'd be thrilled what they've seen from their starting so far in spring training. Tim Hill with a one-two-three top of the seventh inning. So the lefty getting three quick outs at this point. You talk about surrealism. There we go. There it is. Strike three. And the game is over as Kyle Carr retires six in a row to close out a terrific night of pitching for the New York Yankees. They face the minimum here at Seinbrenner Field and pick up a 7-0 victory over the Nationals.