The New York Yankees were coming off of a dramatic walk-off win the night before as they scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to secure their 21st win of the year. With the bats looking to wake up for more than just the final innings of the game, the Yankees would go up against a rising young pitcher in Casey Mize, with Clarke Schmidt going up against him on this cloudy Saturday afternoon. The force would indeed be with the Bronx Bombers tonight, as they would put up five runs and get an excellent team performance on the pitching side of things.
Closed out by their always wonderful bullpen, the Yankees pick up a series win and can go for the sweep tomorrow after today’s victory.
Anthony Rizzo Delivers Another Big Blow, Yankees Pitch a Gem
The Detroit Tigers delivered the first blow in this battle, as rising star Riley Greene delivered a solo shot to lead off the game and give the Yankees an early 1-0 deficit to climb out of. They would respond with a Giancarlo Stanton single that rocketed off of the right field wall at nearly 110 MPH, knotting things up at one apiece. After both teams traded zeroes for an inning, the Yankees would wake up in the bottom of the third inning.
An RBI double by Aaron Judge would give the Yankees a 2-1 lead, but the big blow of the game came off the bat of Anthony Rizzo. His fifth home run over the last 12 games, the left-handed first baseman has come alive after a sluggish start to his season. The Yankees are depending on his ability to create runs to help them jumpstart their offense, and hopefully, this stretch propels him into having a nice rebound season.
That would be all the offense the Yankees would get, and Clarke Schmidt would battle through five laborious innings with three runs allowed, seven strikeouts, and zero walks. The right-hander has a 3.50 ERA and 27.3% strikeout rate through his first seven starts of the season, and while the question around his ability to pitch deep into a game still lingers, it’s a much better start to his season than what we saw in 2023.
Caleb Ferguson would be the first man out of the bullpen, getting just one out after surrendering a walk and hit, with Aaron Boone having a quick hook. He turned to Luke Weaver, who has quickly become one of their best bullpen weapons, as he fired 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball with four strikeouts and just one hit allowed. His ERA on the season sits at 2.86, striking out 24.4% of batters faced while walking just 4.7% of them in contrast.
His velocity is up a few ticks, and as a result, we’re seeing him dominate on the mound with a three-pitch mix that can flat-out overpower hitters. Clay Holmes came in to record a four-out save, striking out two batters and allowing just one hit in the process. At 11 saves, the veteran closer has the most saves in the American League, and he is just one of two qualified relievers to have not allowed an earned run on the season.
The Yankees are now 22-13 on the season, a cool 101-win pace through the first few weeks of the season, and they’ll look to complete the sweep tomorrow as Nestor Cortes goes up against the dominant Tarik Skubal at 1:35 EST PM on YES.