Lakeland, Fla., March 4, 2016; Tigers 3, Yankees 0 — “Five Yankee Pitchers Collaborate on a 2-Hitter” would be a nice headline for a piece covering the Yankee/Tigers tilt in Lakeland, but it avoids the painful truth. When Miguel Cabrera crushed a 3-1 Vinnie Pestano fastball in the bottom of the third, it was the lone scoring drive of the game, a 3-run home run to center field.

Returning to the more normal early March template following a raucous win over the Tigers and an ugly loss to the Phillies Wednesday and Thursday, in this game the pitchers on both sides dominated the offenses. Detroit pitchers recorded 10 strike outs, the visiting Yanks nine. A seventh-inning Bryan Holaday barely fair looper past first base was the second and last Tigers hit, while the Bombers collected six safeties, and put two men on base in three different innings; they just never got the big hit.

DH Brian McCann, facing the only overshifts of the day, lofted a broken-bat dying quail at the third base bag for a one-out single in the first following the leadoff walk Justin Verlander issued to Didi Gregorius, but neither Dustin Ackley nor Austin Romine could scratch a hit. And that free pass, by the way, was the only one Bengals pitching surrendered all game.

Yankee pitching had good location too. Brian Mitchell, who threw a solid two innings to start (two strike outs, no hits) walked Cabrera in the first, to no harm. But the only other walk, following as it did Pestano plunking Anthony Gose on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the third, was a killer. Pestano got ahead of Ian Kinsler 1-2 as well, but the veteran second sacker put on a great at bat, fouling off five offerings before walking to put two on with one down. Pestano recovered to strike Justin Upton out swinging on three pitches, but he fell behind Cabrera. Once he came in, Miguel did not miss: ballgame.

Aaron Hicks had almost given the Yanks an early lead against Verlander leading off the second. A line drive to the base of the foul pole in right landed just foul, and two pitches later his long home run bid the same way just missed the pole. Then Upton lost his long fly to left in the sun, recovering to catch it right at the wall.

Ackley and Puello singled in the fourth, but in between them Romine popped out weakly, and Hicks failed to duplicate his first at bat, going down swinging, as he would again in the sixth. Another great chance fizzled in the fifth, as Starlin Castro and McCann struck out after Gregorius’s one-out double. An error and single with two down in the eighth gave us late hope, but Jonathan Diaz lined out to left.

Detroit defense, too, contributed to stifle the Yanks. Shortstop Jose Iglesias, retreating just long enough, made a fine leaping grab of Gregorius’s liner as he batted to start the third inning (though Iglesias did make a poor attempt at Puello’s grounder in the hole in the fifth, flailing at it with his glove much too high off the ground). And Dixon Machado, in at short in the seventh, robbed Slade Heathcott of a single with wide range and a strong arm. More frustrating still were two solid plays by pitchers, with Drake Britton covering at first against Castro in the third, and Logan Kensing leaping high to snag a Tyler Wade comebacker in the seventh

So although the Yanks did have some chances, it was their pitching that shone this time out. They combined for five (of eight) one-two-three innings, to just three posted by the home team’s pitching. Mitchell looked poised and dominant to start, and even Pestano was more unfortunate than bad. And the undisputed highlight of the day was first-round choice James Kaprelian, a hard-throwing righty who looks to know how to pitch. He struck out two, retired six straight over the fifth and sixth, and routinely reached 96 mph on the gun.

This was displayed in a big digital readout beyond the center field fence next to the smallest, most minimalist scoreboard in the game. Aging Joker Marchant Stadium, to be fair, is undergoing some construction. But the scoreboard not only has no inning-by-inning display; balls, strikes, and outs are shown by tiny dots, and nowhere is there an indication of total hits and errors. Thankfully, the score is shown, but the boards look to be designed to inform on a game where all of that is peripheral; pitch speed is THE point.

But regardless, it all took place on a perfect day, under cloudless blue skies. The Yanks showed plenty of hitting Wednesday, and solid pitching today, with an all-around stinker in between. But a contending team with eight or nine pitchers already likely to head North had two young guys raise their right arms, showing what they’ve got as Joe Girardi looks for candidates to fill that staff.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!