In Saturday night’s game thread, we mentioned how Giancarlo Stanton hadn’t had much success against his former team, but in this back-and-forth affair, the game-winning at-bat came from the Yankees’ DH. Stanton drove in a pair in the eighth inning with a single to give the Yankees the lead in what ultimately became a 9-7 win, making the absolute most out of an ungodly number of free passes handed out by the Marlins: 10 in total.
Before the Yankees could take control of things late in the ballgame,
plenty of walks were distributed on both sides as the pitching staffs struggled to find their footing. In a matchup of young starters, efficiency is half the battle. Unfortunately for Ryan Weathers, that was something he sorely lacked against his old teammates, averaging well over 20 pitches per inning and thus unable to complete four full frames before Miami could chase him out of the ballgame.
The Yankees have made a point of getting Weathers to trust the changeup more, but he couldn’t really generate many chases on it against Miami. Able to lay off the changeup consistently, the Fish worked three walks against Weathers, which was pivotal in driving up his pitch count for an early exit. Still, the worst result on a changeup for Weathers came in one that generated a chase. Up at the plate with one on and two outs in the first, Otto Lopez protected against a two-strike change down below the zone, lifting a pop fly to right that had no business dropping in front of Aaron Judge. That hit kept the inning going, and quickly thereafter both runners came around to score on a Heriberto Hernández triple—the Marlins took the lead, an advantage they kept until the bullpens got involved.
As much as Weathers could lament the poor batted-ball luck in that first inning, his performance over the whole game didn’t quite justify a much better result than the three runs allowed in 3.2 innings of work — needing 88 pitches to record just 11 outs. In the third, Hernández proved he was locked in against Weathers, this time taking him on a ride to right field on a ball that fell just short of going out, requiring a leaping grab from Judge.
While Max Meyer did a better job than Weathers at stranding runners, the Miami starter walked in the early goings, allowing only a single hit through four; the Yankees got to him in the fifth. Aaron Judge hit a rocket single, and then Cody Bellinger took advantage of a slider up in the zone to go deep for the first time in 2026.
That would be the last pitch Meyer would throw, and while the Yankees were unable to exercise a starting pitching advantage—sort of a regular thing these days—they had ample time to get to the Marlins bullpen with only a minor deficit to erase.
Andrew Nardi came in for Meyer, walked two, but got out of the fifth by retiring Jazz Chisholm Jr. Surprisingly, the Marlins sent Nardi back out there for the sixth in a move that didn’t work out. Aaron Boone was aggressive with his bench and deployed the lefty-masher Goldschmidt against Nardi. The southpaw was careful, leading to a walk that would spark the big inning the Yankees needed to take control of this affair (for the first time, anyway).
In a game where virtually every pitcher struggled with command, Anthony Bender, who came in for Nardi, hit José Caballero to put the go-ahead run on base. Following Ryan McMahon’s inability to get a bunt down, the top of the order was ready to pounce on this opportunity—Judge tied it with an opposite-field poke down the right-field line, and Bellinger secured the lead on a sac fly despite a worrisome slide from Trent Grisham.
The sequence of the matchup saw the Yankees starter falter, the Marlins starter falter, and the Marlins bullpen falter. The Yankees held a late lead, but the win wouldn’t come that easy, as the Yankees’ bullpen also faltered.
Stanton had been successful in giving the Yankees an insurance run with a—dare we say it—Rickey Henderson-inspired turn around the bases. He walked on five pitches against Calvin Faucher, and one out later, he took advantage of the Marlins completely disregarding his presence on first. Stanton said “thank you very much” and stole second base, his first regular-season swipe in six years (though he did steal a base in the 2024 ALDS against the Royals). A slow groundout from J.C. Escarra moved him to third, and when Faucher threw a wild one, Stanton scored his economic run.
Protecting a two-run lead, Camilo Doval collapsed rather easily against the bottom of the Marlins order. The Yankees’ right-handed reliever allowed a two-run, game-tying double to Javier Sanoja, the Marlins’ ninth-hole hitter. Brent Headrick cleaned up his mess, but the lead had already vanished.
As all else before, this 6-6 tie would be short-lived, as the Marlins managed to gift-wrap the Yankees an opportunity in the bottom of the eighth by walking the bases loaded for Stanton with two outs. Stanton had enough strength to muscle a ground ball through the infield and drive in a pair.
Just before he was sent to the Yankees in December 2017, Stanton rejected a trade from the Marlins to the mid-2010s Cardinals. Well, this was the kind of rally that would’ve made that iteration of the Cards’ franchise proud.
Walks and passed balls were the Yankees’ friend, and the latter added an insurance run after that Stanton single, making it 9-6 when Ben Rice dented home plate. That was just enough to survive a massive scare in the ninth by David Bednar, who seems to have penchant for late drama. The Yankees’ closer coughed up one run and loaded the bases, putting the tying run at second and the go-ahead margin at first. before striking out Griffin Conine to wrap up the W. With both sides well short of their best game, the Yankees had just more reliable production in key moments for the victory.
It’s always a good day when Max Fried takes the mound, and with a sweep on the line, that’ll be the treat for fans attending Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon, particularly those who hung around for the end of his marathon. The start time is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. (EST). The Marlins will counter with Chris Paddack, who got absolutely rocked by the White Sox in his first start of 2026.
