1. On paper, the Yankees went into this three-game series with the Rangers with a distinct starting pitching disadvantage for all three matchups. But so far, through one game, it hasn’t played out that way.
Will Warren had the best start of his career two weekends ago in Sacramento. He followed that up with a career-high nine strikeouts in Seattle. Then on Tuesday, he struck out a career-high 10 in the Bronx with 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rangers.
2. “Be aggressive in the zone, I guess,” Warren said. “Like I’ve said, if we execute our pitches, I think we’re going to have success.”
“Like you’ve said?” You mean like I’ve said. Here is what I wrote after his putrid start in Baltimore on April 28:
He needs to attack the strike zone, believe in his stuff and let the ball get put in play. He can’t be afraid to pitch in the zone and he can’t nibble around the edges, which how he gets in trouble with deep counts and walks.
Warren has finally stopped nibbling (three walks in his last three starts combined) and is attacking hitter and trusting the defense behind him. He’s learning he doesn’t have to strike out every hitter he faces, even if he did strike out 10 Rangers on Tuesday.
3. “It’s been fun to watch him grow and develop, especially this season,” Aaron Judge said. “He’s a big piece for us now.”
It wasn’t even three weeks ago when it looked like Warren was no longer going to be a piece and may be on his way out of the rotation. He couldn’t give the Yankees length, the innings he did give provide were rarely ever good and the team was 2-5 in his seven starts. But since getting pulled in the fifth inning against the Rays on May 4, Warren has allowed three earned runs over his last three starts and 18 innings with 26 strikeouts, and the Yankees have won all three starts.
4. His performance against the Rangers convinced Boone to stay with him in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out and the Yankees clinging to a 2-0 lead. A walk and a pair of bloop singles had put the tying and go-ahead runs on, but Boone let the rookie face Marcus Semien, and Warren struck him out with a two-seam fastball on his 101st pitch. It was Warren’s 60th strikeout of the season, which is 17 more than any other rookie (stat from Katie Sharp).
“That was awesome,” Warren said. “I’m glad he left me in that situation.”
Mark Leiter Jr. came in for the final out of the sixth, and went on to pitch a scoreless seventh as well.
5. Devin Williams threw another scoreless inning, pitching around a one-out double with two strikeouts in the eighth. Williams has now had six straight scoreless appearances and nine of his last 10 have been scoreless. (The one outlier was the meltdown against the Padres.) The trust level continues to improve as his fastball command has improved. I still don’t trust him with anything less than a three-run lead, but a few weeks ago I didn’t trust him with anything less than a five-run lead, so yes, there’s improvement.
6. The combination of Warren and the long ball led the Yankees to their ninth win in their last 12 games. Ben Rice (getting the start against a lefty) hit a second-inning solo home run into the second deck in right field. The Yankees added a run in the fourth when Rice drove in Judge with a sacrifice fly and added a third run in the sixth on an Anthony Volpe RBI double. In the eighth, Judge broke the game open with a two-run home run to the short porch in right.
7. Those two runs from Judge ended up being needed. Boone sent Ian Hamilton out to get the last three outs of the game with a five-run lead, and just like Yerry De los Santos on Friday against the Mets, Boone ended up needing to go to Luke Weaver to get the final out of the game. And just like Friday, Weaver got the final out with two pitches.
8. The top two-thirds of the lineup went 9-for-22 with all five runs, all five RBIs, a walk and two strikeouts. The 7-8-9 hitters (DJ LeMahieu, Austin Wells and Oswald Peraza) went 0-for-8 with two walks and three strikeouts. Peraza was the only Yankee to not reach base in the game, and the 9-hole, whether it’s Peraza or Jorbit Vivas continues to be the only real hole in the lineup. Once Jazz Chisholm returns, though, that would no longer be the case.
9. Jasson Dominguez didn’t play against the left-handed Corbin, which was odd as Boone elected to go with the three lefties of Rice, Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger over Dominguez’s right-handed bat. That likely means Dominguez will play against both Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. I could see Boone sitting Grisham on Wednesday against deGrom and then sitting Paul Goldschmidt on Thursday against Eovaldi in the day game after a night game.
10. Ryan Yarbrough against deGrom is about as lopsided of a starting pitching matchup as you can have in the majors. deGrom has allowed three runs over his last four starts, and you have to think two runs is the ceiling of what the Yankees can expect as long as he is in the game. Yarbrough needs to match him until the bullpens get involved.
The Yankees have had a tendency this season of getting traffic on the bases early against some of the league’s best starters, but not taking advantage of it and then getting shut down. If they’re able to get early baserunners against deGrom and they don’t take advantage of it, they may not have a chance to score until he’s out of the game.
Last modified: May 21, 2025
