With every subsequent start in the big leagues, Will Warren has looked more and more like a complete MLB starting pitcher. That trend continued in a big way on Monday night, as the rookie surpassed the career-high in strikeouts that he set during his previous outing. Warren posted 10 strikeouts in 5.2 scoreless innings, and the Yankees rode home runs from Ben Rice and Aaron Judge to a series-opening victory. The Rangers were shut out until a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth, but their late rally proved too little too late.
Warren entered play having fanned 24 batters in his last three starts, including nine in Seattle last week. He continued to show outstanding swing-and-miss stuff to start tonight’s contest, striking out five of the first seven Rangers he faced in the first two innings. That included the first hitter of the game, Josh Smith, who actually reached base on a dropped third strike but was later thrown out as part of a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play.
The Yankees would get more contributions from their youth to break the ice at the plate. Patrick Corbin retired the first five batters he faced before Ben Rice pulled a hanging slider down the right-field line. The only question was fair or foul, and it landed in the second deck a few feet to the left of the pole. With that shot, Rice reached double-digit homers on the season.
Meanwhile, Warren continued to dazzle. In the fourth, he froze Wyatt Langford with a backdoor sinker for out number one. After a Josh Jung single, he went to the sweeper and made Adolis García look absolutely foolish for the second out. Then he got Marcus Semien to wave and miss at an outside four-seamer to retire the side; three more K’s in the inning made it eight strikeouts on the night.
The Yankees would expand their lead in the fourth, though an excellent defensive play saved a run for Texas. The Yankees put runners on the corners for Rice, who smoked a ball into the left-center gap. Center fielder Sam Haggerty got a great jump and timed his leap to haul in the catch. Judge trotted home from third, but Cody Bellinger had to retreat to first on the loud out. He would later be thrown out by Jonah Heim attempting to steal second.
Warren tied his career high in Ks to finish the fifth, but got into a jam in the sixth. He issued his first walk of the night to Langford then allowed a jam shot single to Jung, bringing up García as the potential go-ahead run. The 2023 playoff hero reached out and poked a base hit to right to load the bases.
It was some tough luck, but Warren refused to back down against Semien. He struck the veteran out on a beautiful backdoor sinker for his 10th K, a new personal high. Aaron Boone then made the move for Mark Leiter Jr., and Warren exited to a standing ovation.
Leiter made quick work of the struggling Joc Pederson to strand all three Rangers and preserve Warren’s scoreless line. He was once again spectacular, using all of his pitches to great effect. Warren attacked the zone with the fastball, routinely froze hitters by using his sinker’s arm-side run to clip the corner, and got plenty of silly swings on the sweeper and ascendant curveball. He has an eye-popping 34 strikeouts in the month of May, as opposed to just six walks.
The Yankees got a quick rally brewing against Corbin in the sixth, getting the first two men aboard ahead of Judge. That forced Bruce Bochy to go to his bullpen; the Rangers skipper would follow Corbin into the showers a few pitches later when new reliever Jacob Webb didn’t get a call. Webb, though, struck Judge out on a fastball in the heart of the zone and got Bellinger to pop out to Jung in foul ground.
Up came Anthony Volpe, who put up a duck of an at-bat with two aboard his last time up. He fell to two strikes against Webb then got fooled by an outside sweeper, but managed to make contact. It popped up in the air into no-man’s land in center field and found grass despite a valiant effort by Haggerty. That Texas Leaguer against Texas brought home an important insurance run and extended the lead to 3-0.
Leiter cruised through the seventh, then Devin Williams continued his upward trend in the eighth. He worked around a double from Langford to work another scoreless frame, striking out two more Rangers. Since the blown save in Toronto he’s rounded back into form; 9 of his last 10 outings have been scoreless.
In the eighth, more insurance courtesy of the Captain. With Trent Grisham on first, Aaron Judge crushed an absolute no doubter all the way to Staten Island… just kidding. He actually poked a Yankee Stadium Special (TM) down the right field line—it went 326 feet, the shortest distance for a home run in his career.
Well, they don’t ask you how, they ask you how many, and the man has definitely hit his share of tape-measure shots in his career (including one last month in Tampa that didn’t count for ridiculous reasons). Judge has 16 bombs to lead the American League, and is one behind Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead.
No longer operating in a save situation, the Yankees sent Ian Hamilton to get the final three outs. He had little trouble getting the first two, but out No. 27 proved more elusive. With a man aboard, Jonah Heim took Hamilton deep to right with a two-run homer to break the shutout. Then when a Haggerty triple made it a save situation again, Boone tapped Luke Weaver. The Yankee closer needed just two pitches to retire Smith for that final out, cementing a 5-2 victory.
Tomorrow’s pitching matchup will feature polar opposites: soft-tossing lefty swingman Ryan Yarbrough will face off against Jacob deGrom. Need I say more? First pitch is once again set for 7:05 pm, but take note: it’s a Prime Video game.
