I live my life convinced the Yankees are completely inept the first time they see a pitcher. I can’t prove it, but it feels like I’ve seen the same depressing movie a thousand times. For a few innings tonight, the Yankee lineup did its best to prove me right before finally showing mercy (on me, not on the Angels).
Ryan Yarbrough, meanwhile, continued his yeoman’s work as the club’s fifth starter. Since taking that particular role, the Yankees have been able to rely on him for four or five innings. Tonight, he exceeded expectations at a very opportune time.
In the end, the lineup only had one big inning at the plate. And while it wasn’t Saturday’s 10-run inning against the Rockies, it was enough to propel New York to the series-opening win tonight.
To immediately send me into the depths of despair, Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz retired Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge in what seemed like 90 seconds. Hello darkness, my old friend. On the other side of the ledger, the Angels wasted no time. Leading off, Zach Neto took Yarbrough yard. I wrote in the preview for this one that Yarbrough has excelled in 2025 at limiting hard contact. Not this time. Neto’s blast went 440 feet to give Los Angeles the early 1-0 lead.
Cody Bellinger, Jasson Domínguez, and Anthony Volpe continued to prove my hypothesis in the second. The only thing keeping me from spiraling was the Yanks’ exit velocities. Of the five Yankees to put balls in play through two innings, four did so at least 99-mph.
Austin Wells, Jorbit Vivas, and Oswald Peraza. Not wanting their teammates to feel bad, that trio too went down not with a bang but with a whimper. Even better, they swung like they have an early tee time tomorrow. Through three perfect innings, Kochanowicz, he of the 5.03 ERA entering tonight, had thrown 28 pitches. It’s not what you want.
Luckily for the Yanks, Yarbrough remained up to the task. After Neto’s leadoff dinger, he retired the next nine Angels, including Neto to end the third.
The Bronx Bombers finally broke out in the fourth, tired of trudging back to the dugout in disgrace. Rice led off with a knock to the opposite field. Grisham, who’s been in a bit of a funk, followed with a single. Judge then hit an infield single of his own, one that easily could have been an RBI double if not for Yoan Moncada knocking the ball down at third and keeping it on the diamond.
With the sacks juiced, Bellinger worked a four-pitch walk to knot the score at one. Unfortunately, Domínguez then whiffed, leaving Kochanowicz disgustingly close to escaping a massive jam with minimal damage. He managed to get ahead of Volpe, looking to get one step closer to escape. But he left a pitch over the plate. Volpe stayed back and drove it to deep center field. His 104.6-mph line drive cleared the bases and gave the Bombers their first lead.
After that three-run outburst, Yarbrough came out and delivered the fabled shutdown inning. There was a bit of a scare with a flyball to the warning track in center, but he did precisely what you want.
For the Angels, Kochanowicz annoyingly bounced back from his bad inning. He worked around a two-out jam in the fifth, then effortlessly retired the bottom of the Yankee order in the sixth. He ended up throwing 6.2 mostly irritating innings.
The Yankees sent Yarbrough back out for the sixth and when he retired Neto leading off, it marked the deepest he’s pitched into a game this season. Two more batters, two more outs, and Yarbrough, a day after the Yankee bullpen had to cover a ton of outs, gave the club everything it needed.
Six innings, two hits, one walk, seven strikeouts. Against a predominantly right-handed Angels lineup, Yarbrough executed a seemingly timeless plan. He worked up in the zone with his hard stuff, such as it is. And he peppered those righties down and away with his changeup and sweeper.
Yerry De Los Santos was the first man out of the ‘pen for the Yankees, facing the middle of the Angel lineup in the seventh. Popup, strikeout, strikeout.
Connor Brogdon came on for the Angels and promptly walked Judge in the eighth. Bellinger followed with a single to right and The Martian reached base for the first time on the night via an E4. That loaded the bases again for Volpe. Unfortunately, he did not have another bases-clearing knock in his bag, striking out for the first out.
Austin Wells wasted no time picking him up. The Yankee backstop drove a ball to left field, lifting a sacrifice fly that scored Judge and extended the lead to four.
De Los Santos, who’d only thrown eight pitches, came back out for the penultimate frame and notched one more out after surrendering a Jo Adell single. But once the Angels pinch-hit Luis Rengifo into the game, Aaron Boone hopped out of the dugout to summon Mark Leiter Jr.
Leiter put a second man on via a base hit, the first time tonight the Angels had two men on in the same stanza. No harm no foul though. He whiffed Neto, Los Angeles’ most dangerous hitter, then induced a soft ground ball to second.
After a scoreless top of the ninth, Luke Weaver came into the game despite it being a non-save situation. Weaver didn’t look as sharp as usual, and this inning got more interesting than anyone wanted. But with runners on the corners and two outs, Luke got a weak popup from Adell to end it. Dream Weaver, indeed.
The Bronx Bombers are back at it tomorrow night. Same time, same channel. Carlos Rodón looks to continue his sparkling 2025 season, facing Tyler Anderson. As always, Pinstripe Alley has all your coverage. First pitch at 9:38 pm EDT.
