1. The Yankees held a 2-0 lead for the fourth straight game, but unlike the previous three games, they won this one. They won this one because they were able to extend their 2-0 lead into a 6-0 lead and held on to beat the Orioles 6-2 and end their four-game losing streak.
Trent Grisham was removed from the leadoff spot with left-handed Trevor Rogers starting, and Paul Goldschmidt — the leadoff hitter against lefties — hit the first pitch of the game out for the earliest 1-0 lead possible.
The Yankees exploded for five runs in the third. Cody Bellinger hit a one-out, bases-loaded RBI groundout to make it 2-0, Amed Rosario produced an RBI single on a ground ball to third and Grisham — batting sixth — hit a three-run home run to break the game open. (The Yankees were held scoreless for the final six innings.)
2. I have ripped Aaron Boone recently for continuing to bat Grisham out of the leadoff spot, and rightfully so. His three-run home run out of the 6-hole doesn’t change that. Let Grisham hit in the middle of the order and run into one every once in a while. If you remember, this is what I wrote about Grisham last week:
Grisham always seems to do just enough to reset his place atop the order. After a bad week, he’ll hit a ball out or pick up a pair of doubles to maintain his place in the lineup and then suck for the next week and then do something positive, over and over.
After going 1-for-11 with two walks and four strikeouts in the first four games of the road trip, Grisham hit the three-run home run on Tuesday to reset his performance. That was likely his production for the next week. We’ll continue to see Grisham every day from now through the last game of this series and the Citi Field portion of the Subway Series and the four-game Blue Jays series, but we likely won’t see him add positive production again until Memorial Day Weekend. (But hey, the Memorial Day Weekend series is against the Rays, so it would be a good time for him to provide something offensively!)
3. Will Warren came an out shy of giving the Yankees six innings, but he actually gave the Yankees roughly eight unofficial innings. In the third, the Orioles had a runner on first with no outs and Warren got a double play ball that Max Schuemann threw away. Warren then got a second straight double play ball that Ryan McMahon fielded brilliantly and threw to second where no one was covering and all runners were safe. After getting a shallow fly ball for the second out of the inning, Warren produced his third double play ball of the inning and the Yankees turned it to end the inning unscathed.
In the fifth, Amed Rosario let a two-out ground ball go right through his legs to extend that inning. The Yankees have played extremely sloppy defense in the infield on this road trip, but that’s no surprise. That’s the way it’s been during the entire Boone era.
4. Warren was good, but not good enough for me to pass Ryan Weathers on the starting pitching depth chart. If it were up to me, Warren would be the odd man out once Gerrit Cole returns, but a lot can happen between now and then. As Joe Torre would say, “These things take care of themselves,” and it’s possible that between now and Cole returning that someone else in the rotation goes down (knock on all the wood that that doesn’t happen). But if everyone is healthy, and the Yankees don’t use a six-man rotation, Warren should lose his spot, even though he’s been very good this season.
5. Warren gave up a couple of runs in the sixth, but Fernando Cruz was able to get out of the inning without further damage. Jake Bird could only get out one of the three batters he faced in the eighth as he continues to do everything possible to not become a trusted reliever at a time when the Yankees are desperate for one. Tim Hill cleaned up Bird’s mess to get through the eighth and David Bednar pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out.
6. It wasn’t all positive for the Yankees despite ending their losing streak. Jose Caballero was placed on the 10-day injured list with a broken finger, claiming he will be back after the 10 days are up. To make matters worse, Anthony Volpe was called up to play shortstop in Caballero’s absence.
After finally being sent down three years too late, Volpe is now back in the majors having done nothing to earn it. If Caballero doesn’t slide back on a pickoff attempt on Sunday, Volpe is in Triple-A right now, where he has hit .205/.238/.333 in 42 plate appearances. Volpe is undeserving of the call-up and simply “lucky” that an injury brought him up. I would have called Oswaldo Cabrera up and continued to play Schuemann at shortstop. Schuemann has provided strong at-bats and outside of the botched double play on Tuesday, you know he can make major-league throws from short to first.
7. Boone said “the expectation” is that Caballero will regain his starting role once off the IL, but I wouldn’t trust Boone to tell me what day of the week it is. He said during the offseason that Volpe would be the starting shortstop once he returned and look how that turned out. I know how this plays out. Volpe hits .350 for the next nine days and Caballero returns as a utility player. Then Volpe goes back to being the non-major-league bat he was in 2023, 2024 and 2025, but the Yankees believe those first nine days with Caballero out were indicative of who he really is, so they continue to start him at shortstop for the rest of 2026. You may be laughing. I’m not. I know how Volpe plays and I know how the Yankees operate. The Yankees desperately want Volpe at shortstop over Caballero and this dumb, freak injury opened the door for them to get what they want without Volpe having to prove it in Triple-A. Any production, any at all will have Caballero on the bench when his injured-list stint is over.
8. With Volpe up, and Boone saying he’s going to play, I could see this being the lineup on Wednesday:
Trent Grisham
Ben Rice
Aaron Judge
Cody Bellinger
Jazz Chisholm
Spencer Jones
Ryan McMahon
Anthony Volpe
J.C. Escarra
It’s not the lineup I would use, but it’s likely the lineup Boone will use.
9. Kyle Bradish goes for the Orioles, and 11 days ago, the Yankees handed him his worst start of 2026: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 2 HR. Bradish rebounded to strike out 10 over seven innings against the Athletics in his most recent start. The Yankees need to get to Bradish the way they did earlier this month because with the way the bullpen has been used since Saturday, the options are going to be limited and not very good on Wednesday.
10. Max Fried can’t have the lack of command he had in his last start against the Brewers or the last time the Yankees faced the Orioles on May 3. He has to give the Yankees length on Wednesday with the start time pushed up and the bullpen on fumes. The Orioles offense is obviously in another stratosphere compared to the shitty Red Sox offense, but the eight shutout innings he gave at Fenway Park back on April 22 would be very much appreciated in the series finale at Camden Yards. If Fried gives six innings and it’s a close game, it’s going to be hard to like the Yankees’ chances with who will be made available in relief.
Last modified: May 13, 2026
