TAMPA, FLA. — Infielder Michael Hollimon has had a good spring training with the Twins, but his error in the bottom of the seventh inning fueled the Yankees' 6-4 comeback victory Friday at Steinbrenner Field.
After a leadoff single by New York's Russell Martin, Hollimon, playing third base, mishandled an Andruw Jones grounder that could have been turned into a double play.
The floodgates opened. The Yankees followed with a two-run double, walk, RBI single, sacrifice bunt, RBI single and RBI groundout. It was an example of how one mistake can lead to a big inning.
Righthander Jeff Manship could have made a key pitch, but he was tagged for three earned runs in the inning and was pulled in favor of Jared Burton. Manship's spring ERA rose from 1.42 to 6.14. Burton pitched a scoreless inning, as did fellow righthander Kyle Waldrop. Both are pushing for a spot in the Twins bullpen.
Hollimon, a 29-year-old who played 11 major league games with the Tigers in 2008, is 9-for-18 this spring with a homer and five RBI. But the error won't help his cause.
The game was played in a tidy 2 hours, 6 minutes.
