May 14, 2007 — Scott Coefiel made the most of his first start of the season Sunday by baffling the Cardinals with his assortment of off-speed pitches, propelling the Yankees to a lopsided 21-4 victory.
One could argue without unduly exaggerating that Coefiel’s fastball could not break wet tissue, but he has an array of sharp-breaking pitches that makes up for his lack of heat. He held the Cardinals scoreless for the first four innings in Raphael Jackson AA action at the D.C. Canegata Ball Park Sunday afternoon before they were able to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth.
Batting first, the Yankees gave their starting pitcher all the runs he would need in the top of the first inning. They scored six, of which only three were earned. Two of those earned runs came on a two-run double by Steve Simmonds, and the other came on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Omar Eastman.
After scoreless second and third innings, the Yankees blew the game wide open in the top of the fourth, exploding for 12 runs to take an 18-0 lead. They scored 12 runs on a two-run double by Mckeel Rogers, an RBI single by Ellerton Maynard, eight runs on bases-loaded walks and seven on Cardinal miscues.
The Yankees added two more unearned runs in the top of the fifth to go up 20-0. The Cardinals finally broke through against the Yankees' diminutive, wily lefty for four runs in the bottom of the fifth. They came on a three-run blast over the left-field fence off the bat of Norbert Pickering and an RBI single by Cedric Joseph, bringing the score to 20-4.
After the Yankees scored their final run of the game in the top of the fifth, Coefiel set the Cardinals down in order in the bottom of the inning.
The game was then called by the umpire because of time constraints.
Coefiel pitched six strong innings to record his first win of the season, while Irvin Simmons got the loss for the Cardinals. The Yankees' attack was led by Maynard, 4 for 6 with one RBI; Rogers, 3 for 6 with two RBIs; and Carlos Montes, 2 for 3 with one RBI. For the Cardinals, Pickering went 3 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs while Joseph went 2 for 3 with one RBI.
Monarchs 11, Mets 8
In Sunday’s early game, the Monarchs outlasted the Mets 11-8 in a time-shortened five-inning contest. Rene Rosado picked up the win for the Monarchs in relief of starter Vernell Cooke, while Nick Carabella took the loss for the Mets. Top hitters for the Monarchs were Leon Lang, 3 for 3 with one RBI; Carmelo Torres, 1 for 3 with three RBIs; Rosado, 1 for 3 with one RBI; and Rashan Foster, 2 for 4.
For the Mets, Enercido Bon went 1 for 2 with two RBIs and Juan Isaac went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
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