The Yankees rallied with four runs in the eighth inning, but it was too little, too late, as they fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5.
Here are the takeaways…
– Will Warren opened the game with two scoreless innings, but got into some trouble in the third. After letting up a leadoff walk to Victor Scott II, Warren allowed back-to-back singles, including an RBI base-knock to Nolan Arenado that tied the game up at 1-1. Things then unraveled, as Warren gave up a three-run homer to Brendan Donovan to give the Cards a 4-1 lead.
St. Louis nearly added another run on a single to left field, but Alex Verdugo threw out Paul Goldschmidt at home as he was trying to score from second base.
Warren’s day came to an end after 4.0 innings, as he allowed four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks over 76 pitches. He’s now allowed 24 runs over his first five starts (9.55 ERA), second most in team history behind Joe Lake‘s 28 runs allowed in 1908 (h/t James Smyth).
– Austin Wells‘ hot stretch continued as he recorded the Yanks’ first hit of the day against Kyle Gibson with a leadoff double in the bottom of the second inning. Wells advanced to third on Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s groundout and then scored on Anthony Volpe‘s single to left field, giving NY an early 1-0 lead.
– The Yanks had another scoring opportunity in the fourth with Wells on second and Chisholm on first with one out, however, Volpe grounded out and Trent Grisham struck out to end the inning and keep it a 4-1 game. Verdugo gave the Yankees yet another chance in the fifth with a leadoff double, but Gibson retired the next three straight batters to escape the inning unscathed.
– Mark Leiter Jr. came in to pitch the sixth inning and let up back-to-back doubles, followed by a wild pitch and a throwing error by Wells to make it a 6-1 game.
– Aaron Judge recorded his only hit of the day in the eighth with two outs against Matthew Liberatore, starting a string of four-straight singles with Volpe capping it off with the RBI to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 6-2. Giancarlo Stanton pinch-hit for Grisham and came through with a bases-clearing double off the wall (about a foot short of being a grand slam), as the Yanks trailed 6-5. Verdugo grounded out to end the rally.
Juan Soto doubled with two away in the bottom of the ninth and the Cardinals opted to intentionally walk Judge with first base open. Ryan Helsley struck out Wells on a full-count slider to end the game. The Yanks finished the game with eight runners left on base, going 4-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Game MVP: Kyle Gibson
The 36-year-old dominated the Yankees lineup on Saturday afternoon, allowing just one run on five hits with six strikeouts over 7.0 IP. Soto (two strikeouts) and Judge (one strikeout) both went 0-for-3 against the veteran right-hander.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yanks wrap up their three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in the Bronx. First pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
LHP Nestor Cortes (8-10, 3.89 ERA) faces RHP Miles Mikolas (8-10, 5.23 ERA).
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