When your offense is struggling to score runs, you better be razor sharp at all of the little things around the diamond, principally defense. The Yankees were on course for a flawless performance on defense until a nonchalant error from Jazz Chisholm Jr. appeared to have thrown the game away in the seventh. However, if you watched the first two games of this series you’d know that the offense has not quit until the final pitch is thrown, and they fought back in the eighth to secure their third straight
come-from-behind victory of the series. It took home runs in the ninth and eighth innings, respectively, to complete the comebacks in the first two contests, and today it was a two-run, eighth inning triple by Ben Rice that won them the game, 5-3, to cap off their first half with a sweep of the Nationals.
Will Warren’s season has hit the skids after such a strong start. In his last 11 starts dating back to May 6th, Warren has pitched to a 5.34 ERA and 4.77 FIP while regressing significantly in the strikeout, walk, and home run departments. Warren achieved a surprising and frankly disproportionate amount of success with the fastball early on with hitters not accustomed to its low arm-slot release and up-shoot movement. However, hitters are starting to adjust to the deception of the pitch, and at under 94 mph it is just not a good enough offering to beat opponents when not commanded to the edges of the zone.
Apparently, he did not get the memo that he shouldn’t be throwing the heater as much, and indeed not at all to James Wood given that the Nats’ superstar hit both his home runs this series off the No. 1. Wood worked the count full before Warren grooved a four-seamer right down the middle, Wood sending the pitch 434 feet to straightaway center for his tenth leadoff home run of the year to set a new Nationals franchise record.
In the second, there was a nervous moment for Warren when he plunked José Tena with two outs and landed awkwardly on his plant leg. He immediately grabbed his left hamstring prompting Aaron Boone and the trainer to check on him from the dugout, but he managed to stay in the game and finish the inning. The defense did its part to help out their starter, turning double plays in the first and third to erase a pair of walks and then a vital inning-ending double play on a liner in the fourth with runners on the corners.
They were paid off for these defensive efforts to keep the game close. Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided the game-winner with his ninth inning home run on Friday — easily the biggest swing of his season — and he came through in the clutch again in the fifth. Cody Bellinger led off the frame with a double to left and Jazz drove him home with a line drive RBI single roped into short right-center. Jazz then made a heads-up base running play to advance to second on a ball in the dirt that didn’t bounce that far away from home plate, and birthday boy Austin Wells immediately capitalized with an RBI single to right to give the Yankees the lead, 2-1. It gives Wells an RBI in three of his last four appearances after going almost two weeks without one.
As if buoyed by the work of his infield defenders, Warren found a second gear in the middle innings. I wondered whether he would work in the changeup and curveball more against such a lefty-heavy Nats lineup that crushes the fastball as well as any team in the majors, and Warren obliged. He threw a season-high 11 curveballs along with 18 changeups, the changeups inducing a 29-percent whiff rate and the curveball getting whiffs on two out of three swings including a huge strikeout of Wood to end the fifth and strand a runner at third after Tena led off with a double. That would be the end of Warren’s outing, representing a strong bounce back from his stinker in Tampa, Warren finishing with a run on four hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts on 83 pitches across five innings.
Unfortuately, the first bullpen button that Boone pushed was the wrong one. Tim Hill came out for the sixth and served up the game-tying home run to pinch-hitter Curtis Mead, which is alarmingly the fourth home run Hill has allowed in his last five innings of work. He was a revelation for the Yankees last year but has turned into a pumpkin this year and should fall to third on the depth chart of lefty relievers behind Brent Headrick and Ryan Weathers should the latter move to the bullpen upon Max Fried’s return from injury.
All the hard work by the infielders came unravelled in an instant in the seventh. Tena reached on a one out single off Angel Chivilli and was replaced by pinch-runner Nasim Nuñez, who promptly stole second. It looked like Chivilli got the routine ground ball to end the inning, but Jazz sailed a lackadaisical throw to first over Ben Rice that allowed Nuñez to score from second.
Despite this shift in momentum, it still felt like the Yankees had one more late rally hidden up their sleeves after their late heroics in the first two games of the series. Max Schuemann kept the eighth inning alive with a two-out single and a Trent Grisham walk put the go-ahead run on base for Rice. Despite going 0-for-3 against Cavalli, there was still hope against the NL’s worst bullpen. Rice worked the count to 2-2, and after fouling a pair of curveballs, he made the mid-AB adjustment to pound the ball to the wall in left-center, Dylan Crews making a poorly-judged attempt to catch the ball that allowed both runners to score and Rice to motor to third with what’s already his third triple of the year.
They kept the pressure on in the ninth, Bellinger leading off with a single — his third multi-hit game in the last four — and advancing to third on a Jazz hustle double to left center to partially atone for his earlier error. José Caballero lifted a fly ball just deep enough to right-center for a sac fly to plate Bellinger a step ahead of the throw home for an invaluable insurance run to make it 5-3. A pinch-hit walk from Paul Goldschmidt and a bunt single from Schuemann appeared to have loaded the bases with two outs, but replay review determined that the throw beat Schuemann to the bag by a millimeter to end the frame.
Credit has to be given to Paul Blackburn, who has become something of a relief ace over the last two months. Entering for the top of the eighth, Blackburn recorded the final six outs of the game without allowing a base runner to nail down his first save of the year. It was another awesome comeback victory, 5-3, to complete the sweep and send the Yankees into the All-Star break with the wind in their sails.
The next five days will be dedicated to the festivities surrounding the Midsummer Classic. The Yankees kick off their second-half with a marquee matchup — three games hosting Shohei Ohtani and the two-time defending champion Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. The first game of that series will be Friday, July 17th, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm ET.
