TAMPA, Florida -- The Detroit Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead by the top of the fourth inning, but the New York Yankees battled all the way back, lost the lead, then won the game on a walk-off, 10-9.
Luis Severino, who got the start for New York, walked in a run and then gave up a grad slam to Bryan Holaday, which scored Cameron Maybin, Casey McGehee and Mike Aviles. After the team added another run in the third inning to take a 6-0 lead, Ian Kinsler clobbered a Ballantine Blast on a fly ball to left field for a 7-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
The starter, Severino, went 1.1 innings and gave up five runs on two hit and two walks, but the native of Dominican Republic recorded two strikeouts in the event. Mike Pelfrey, a right-hander signed by the Tigers this winter, saw nine hitters and sent them all down to complete 3.0 innings of perfect baseball during his spring debut in the Old English D.
''It was fun to get back out there and compete,'' Pelfrey said. ''I just tried to work on fastball command. Sinker, slider, that was it.''
New York chipped away as the team scored three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and two in the sixth to tie the game with the Tigers, 7-7. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Austin Romine scored for the Yankees on an RBI ground out off the bat of Dustin Fowler to take an 8-7 edge.
The Tigers needed one swing to retake the lead and the team did just that as Steven Moya turned on a fastball in the top of the ninth inning. Moya, who has the most potential of all position prospects, hit a two-run Federal Express over the fence in right field. Detroit regained the one run lead and looked to close out the game.
Moya has had his ups and downs in the past, but will look to make the Tigers roster or eventually join the team at some point during the 2016 season.
“I don’t get frustrated because I know now that it’s going to take time to become the hitter I need to be to get to the big leagues," Moya said.
It seemed like the game was over in Tampa, but the Yankees still had a little fight left.
Romine singled on a ground ball to shortstop and the hit allowed Jorge Mateo to score for New York. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Fowler hit a pop fly to left field off Joe Matiply and the ball was dropped by left fielder Jason Krizan, which allowed Tyler Wade to score. The run gave the Yankees a 10-9 walk-off win over the Tigers.
Mark Teixeira played for the first time since his season ending injury that occurred on August 17, 2015 and was diagnosed as a fracture on September 11, 2015.
"Really nice, good to see him,'' Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
New York right-handed pitcher Nick Goody got the win for and Mantiply took the loss for Detroit due to the error by Krizan in left field.
Up Next
The Tigers will head to Lake Buena Vista, Florida at Champion Stadium to play the Atlanta Braves. Daniel Norris, a left-hander, will toe the slab for Detroit and will be opposed by Sean Newcomb, who is also a lefty, at 1:05 PM ET. New York will stay in Tampa to battle the Philadelphia Phillies, who will be fashioning a split-squad.