NEW YORK — A 101.5 mph laser came screaming back up the middle. Will Warren had his back to it. He raised his foot and knocked it down with his cleat.
That was the second inning. Leody Taveras had squared up the pitch perfectly. The ball should have been a Yankees baserunner. Instead, Warren stumbled onto it, recovered and threw to first for the out.
The moment captured everything about the Yankees’ 7-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. They found a way on the mound, at the plate and in the field. Forty-one thousand two hundred and thirty-nine people watched them win their 11th of the last 13 games.
Warren described the moment with the bluntness of a pitcher who knew exactly what had happened.
“I just stood there and hoped it missed me, and it didn’t,” Warren said.
Warren silences Baltimore in another rotation audition
Six and a third innings. Three hits. One walk. Nine strikeouts. One earned run, on a Pete Alonso home run in the second inning. After Alonso’s blast, Warren retired 16 of the next 17 batters he faced.
His ERA dropped to 2.39. That ranks third on the Yankees behind Cam Schlittler’s 1.51 and Max Fried’s 2.09. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his seven starts this season. He is pitching into the seventh inning. He is getting strikeouts with a full menu of pitches.
Friday’s game featured a heavier diet of off-speed and breaking balls than usual. His changeup, a pitch that eats up left-handed hitters, was particularly sharp. Baltimore swung four times at it and missed three. Gunnar Henderson stared at a perfectly placed third-strike sinker and walked back to the dugout without a word. Coby Mayo swung wildly at a sweeper that broke well outside the zone. Neither batter came close.
Manager Aaron Boone was asked about Warren after the game. Warren had not been getting the same Yankees headlines as Fried or Schlittler. The question was fair: does the Yankees staff truly see what Warren brings?
“You say he’s the guy we haven’t talked about,” Boone said. “The body of work, just from jump in spring training, has just been excellent over and over again.”
Warren is aware of what is coming. Carlos Rodon could make his final rehab start Tuesday. Gerrit Cole is also scheduled to start at the minor league level Tuesday in what would be his fourth outing. When both return, the Yankees will need to find rotation spots for them.
Warren addressed the competition directly after the win. He did not sound afraid of it.
“I think we’re going to have the best staff in all of baseball when they come back,” Warren said. “And so the best pitchers are going to pitch the majority of the games. Gotta make sure that I keep going out there and doing my job.”
Rice, Caballero, Judge carry the offense
The bats handled their part before Alonso made it interesting. Ben Rice launched a three-run home run in the second inning, his 11th of the season. That total sits one behind the major league lead. The blast settled the game early and gave Warren a cushion he never surrendered.
Jose Caballero added a solo home run of his own. The timing was noted by everyone in the building. Earlier Friday, news had broken that Anthony Volpe’s rehab assignment would continue, with the Yankees holding Caballero as the everyday shortstop. Caballero responded that evening with another display of why the decision made sense. He finished with two hits and played sharp defense throughout.
Aaron Judge reached base four times in five plate appearances. Cody Bellinger, Amed Rosario and Judge each contributed RBI hits as the Yankees spread the damage across the lineup.
Cruz, Doval, Bird close it out
Fernando Cruz inherited a jam when he replaced Warren in the seventh. Runners were on second and third with one out. He allowed just one run, on a swinging bunt, and kept the lead intact.
Camilo Doval and Jake Bird then threw scoreless innings to finish off Baltimore’s lineup. The Yankees bullpen, which has been steady for most of the season, did not waste a strong starting effort.
The Yankees rotation owns a majors-best 2.70 ERA. Cole and Rodon are not yet in it. When they arrive, the Yankees face a good problem. Five top-level starters. Five rotation spots. Hard choices ahead for a historically deep Yankees staff.
At 21-11, the Yankees hold the AL’s best record. They have won 11 of their last 13. And they did it on a night when their ace was a 26-year-old who stopped a 101 mph line drive with his shoe.
How do you rate the Yankees’ win? Who do you think as the MVP?
