There’s nothing like a good first impression.
Ryan McMahon arrived in New York over the weekend after a midseason trade with the Colorado Rockies. While the Yanks had hardly looked the part of a playoff team for the last month and change when he was acquired, he was no doubt happy to be escaping a Rockies team that was fighting to avoid being the worst team in the modern era.
It’s been a good first week for the Yankees’ new third baseman. He entered play 4-for-13 with three RBI since coming to the Bronx
and had been a sparkler at third base. A welcome addition following months of futility at the position.
If the Yankees had lost tonight, McMahon would be far from the one lambasted the most. Anthony Volpe made another error, Austin Wells made a baffling mistake that cost the team a chance to walk it off in the ninth, Devin Williams had blown the save, and Giancarlo Stanton was unable to put the ball in play with an opportunity to win it without a hit in the tenth.
Yet, baseball is a game where you can pick your teammates up. On a day when so many Yankees needed to be picked up, McMahon delivered his first big Yankees moment with a walk-off RBI single to win a wild 11-inning affair, 5-4. Will Warren delivered a quality start and the Yankees got great relief from Brent Headrick, Yerry De los Santos, and the winning pitcher, Tim Hill.
The first inning was peaceful for all involved, as Will Warren worked around a two-out single and Zack Littell worked an easy 1-2-3 inning on just seven pitches, albeit with the help of a great play from Chandler Simpson at the wall in right-center field.
The second inning saw a brief downpour fall over Yankee Stadium, which might’ve caused the usually sure-handed McMahon to make his first error as a Yankee. After a groundout, Warren and co. perfectly timed a pickoff play to cut down on Junior Caminero at second base and turn it into an eventual 1-2-3 inning, with Warren striking out former high school teammate Jake Mangum.
Another quick inning for Littell got us to the third, where Warren got squeezed before giving up a one-out double to underrated Yankee killer Taylor Walls. After a nice play by Rice retired Simpson to get the second out, the recently activated Brandon Lowe scooped a 2-2 curveball into right field for an RBI double to open the scoring and make it 1-0 Rays.
McMahon led off the bottom of the third with a double, but looked to be stranded after two poor at-bats by Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells. Trent Grisham and Ben Rice worked gritty walks against one of the stingiest pitchers in the game to load the bases for Bellinger, but Littell induced an inning-ending groundout.
In the fourth, Jonathan Aranda scooped a sweeper in the dirt for a leadoff single, but was cut down in bizarre fashion on a good ol’ fashioned strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play, where he never had a chance at getting in there. Warren got in some trouble with two out, but worked out of it.
The Yankees got another chance in the bottom half to get on the board, but stranded runners on the corners. It was an ominous start to the inning when Giancarlo Stanton smoked a 3-2 slider to the left-center field gap, only for it to be hauled in on a spectacular play by Mangum. Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole his first pair of bases in 50 days, but was stranded at third when Volpe just got under a high fly ball to center field.
Warren came back out and gritted through the fifth, capping it with a strikeout of Yandy Díaz. Rice had another long at-bat that led to a walk and continued to drive up Littell’s pitch count, but Bellinger just missed one of his patented pulled home runs to get Littell through five, where his day would end. It’s tied for his second-shortest outing of the season and is just the fifth time he didn’t pitch into the sixth with a season-high four walks. It would turn out to be his last start as a Tampa Bay Ray, as the team proceeded to deal him to the Reds after the game.
It was a challenge to let Warren pitch to the heart of the Rays’ order for the third time in the sixth, but he passed the test with flying colors with a 1-2-3 inning to end up with his fourth quality start of the season. He worked through some spotty umpiring and nonexistent run support for his best start of the year against the Rays after combining to throw just 6.1 innings in the first two starts.
After Garrett Cleavinger tossed an extremely easy bottom of the sixth in relief of Littell, Brent Headrick was first out of the Yankees’ bullpen and responded by striking out the side in his second straight impressive outing. In a wide open bullpen that, as of now, hasn’t been upgraded via trade, Headrick is making a good impression.
Mason Englert came on for the Rays and made similarly quick work of the Yankees, who just couldn’t seem to run into one. Headrick stayed on to give up a single to Simpson and get Brandon Lowe to pop out before turning it over to Yerry De los Santos. On the very first pitch he threw, the Yankees successfully executed a pitch-out and did the near-impossible, catching Simpson stealing.
Of course, that good defense was immediately overshadowed by Volpe’s 16th error of the season on a slow ground ball by Díaz that followed the same script, a low throw that wasn’t scooped by the first baseman. Fortunately, the pitcher picked him up, as De los Santos struck out Aranda.
Bryan Baker, the former Orioles reliever, came on for the eighth and one thing he’s been struggling with is the long ball. Well, the 30-year-old reliever hung a 2-1 slider that got demolished by Grisham for his 18th home run of the season. It’s Baker’s tenth home run allowed in 44 innings. New ballgame, it’s 1-1.
Rice followed Grisham with a single that was scorched down the line before being pinch-ran for by Oswald Peraza. The speed paid off, as the Yankees executed a perfect hit-and-run on a single by Bellinger to put runners on the corners with nobody out for Stanton. In a 2-2 count, Baker elected to go with a fastball on the hands, which Stanton muscled into center field for an RBI single to take the lead.
As much as it would’ve helped, the Yankees stopped right there, as Chisholm popped out and Domínguez hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Onto the ninth and a one-run lead for Devin Williams.
Williams had been 17-for-18 in save opportunities despite his deep April struggles, but the second blown save finally hit. After a long at-bat resulted in a leadoff walk to Junior Caminero, the pinch-runner Jose Caballero stole second with ease and Josh Lowe smoked a hanging 2-0 changeup into the second deck for a go-ahead two-run homer. A backbreaking swing that deflated Yankee Stadium.
Williams settled down to retire the side after that, but the damage was done. Pete Fairbanks came on for the save and made quick work of McMahon, but Volpe refused to let the game go that way, blasting his 16th home run of the year into the left field seats to tie the game at three. It’s his sixth long ball since the All-Star break, and second in as many nights.
The Yankees had a chance to walk it off after a Wells single and a push bunt by Grisham, but a bizarre sequence ended the inning with a whimper. While a good bunt, Grisham didn’t have the speed to beat it out and was thrown out, but Wells thought that was the third out and walked off the bag, getting tagged out to end the inning. An inexcusable mistake in a situation where the Yankees were a single away from avoiding extras.
Luke Weaver came on for the tenth and got a quick strikeout of the pinch-hitting Jonny DeLuca, but got in trouble after. He walked Brandon Lowe and allowed a single to Díaz to load the bases. With one out, Aranda lofted a fly ball to deep left that nearly snuck out for a grand slam, only for Domínguez to make a leaping catch and rob him of extra bases. The Rays took the lead thanks to the deep sacrifice fly, but the Martian prevented it from being a crooked number.
Edwin Uceta came on for the save for the Rays and struck out Goldschmidt to start before a beautiful piece of hitting by Bellinger split the outfielders and he motored around the bases for an RBI triple to tie the game and put the winning run on third.
Unfortunately, Stanton got fooled repeatedly by Uceta’s filthy changeup and Chisholm grounded out to end the inning, sending this baby to the 11th.
Tim Hill took the mound and got helped out by a great leaping catch by McMahon that nearly doubled off the ghost runner. The unconventional lefty got a pair of groundouts to end the inning and gave the Bombers a chance to walk it off.
Chisholm started at second base against the new pitcher Kevin Kelly. Domínguez was intentionally walked to set up the force. Unfortunately for Kevin Cash, his smart move was all for naught, as Kelly balked before delivering an 0-1 pitch to put the winning run on third. That meant that all McMahon had to do was drive a ball to the outfield, which he did for a game-winning RBI single.
It’s a gigantic victory for the Yankees in a game that could’ve been a devastating defeat, and what a wild one it was.
wheeeeee! pic.twitter.com/soBxBRPthR
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) July 31, 2025
So, for the moment, the Yankees hold serve in the AL East, staying ahead of Boston and holding at four games back of Toronto. They’ll go for the definitive series victory tomorrow afternoon in a Thursday matinee in the Bronx, as Marcus Stroman faces off against Ryan Pepiot at 1:05 PM EDT on YES. Be advised, the forecast is bleak for tomorrow.
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