THE BRONX, N.Y. — A four-run deficit. Temperatures in the 30s. A starter chased before the fifth inning. For the first time in the young 2026 season, the New York Yankees looked beatable.
They were not.
The Yankees rallied for nine runs, shook off a blown lead in the eighth and held on to beat the Miami Marlins 9-7 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night. The result pushed the Yankees to 7-1, matching their best start through eight decisions in franchise history and only the second time in 23 years they have won seven of their first eight.
But this one was built nothing like the first six.
Perfect pitching run comes to an end
Through the opening week of the season, Yankees starters had allowed just four runs across 39 and one-third innings. That figure matched the fewest runs surrendered by any MLB rotation through seven games since 1900.
Saturday snapped that streak in a hurry.
Yankees’ left-hander Ryan Weathers, making his first start at Yankee Stadium after arriving from Miami in a January trade, could not solve his former club. He gave up three runs on six hits and three walks, striking out four but throwing 88 pitches in just 3 and two-thirds innings before manager Aaron Boone pulled him trailing 4-0.
“Overall, I thought he threw the ball OK,” Boone said. “And just hopefully get him a little more efficient and a little more settled here as we go.”
Reliever Camilo Doval later compounded the damage, surrendering two runs in the eighth to briefly hand the Marlins a share of the lead after the Yankees had clawed back.
Neither collapse ultimately mattered.
Yankees offense finds every way to score
The Yankees were held to one hit through four and two-thirds innings. A sellout crowd of 44,150 braved the wind chill and watched their team dig deeper into a four-run hole.
Then everything changed.
Yankees captain Aaron Judge singled to lead off a two-out rally in the fifth, and Cody Bellinger crushed a Max Meyer slider over the wall in right-center to cut the Marlins’ lead to 4-2 and knock out the Miami starter.
“It gave us that spark,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “It was the spark we needed, and it turned us on a little bit. We started getting on base a lot more from there and putting the pressure on.”
Small ball took over in the sixth. Yankees pinch hitter Paul Goldschmidt worked a walk, and Jose Caballero was hit by a pitch. Trent Grisham chopped an RBI single through the left side. Judge snuck a single down the first-base line to tie it. Then Bellinger provided the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Grisham who angled his slide and dragged his foot across home plate.
New York led 5-4 heading to the seventh, with six unanswered runs on the board.
Stanton does the unthinkable, then delivers the winner
The Yankees’ seventh inning belonged entirely to Giancarlo Stanton.
He led off with a walk and then, with the infield playing back and not holding him on base, stole second for his first swipe since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
“Awesome,” Yankees manager Boone said simply.
“The boys were fired up,” Bellinger added.
“If they’re going to give it to me,” Stanton said, “I got to go get it.”
The Yankees slugger moved to third on a groundout, then scored on a passed ball by catcher Agustin Ramirez. The sequence gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead and marked one of the slowest runners in baseball manufacturing a run entirely on his own legs.
Doval gave it back in the eighth. Javier Sanoja’s two-run double off the left-field line tied the game at six and sucked the noise out of Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees answered.
Ryan McMahon walked to open the bottom of the eighth. Judge walked with one out. Ben Rice walked with two out to load the bases for Stanton. He dug in against righty Michael Petersen, fouled off two pitches at 2-and-2 and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat muscled a changeup past shortstop Otto Lopez into left field. Two runs scored. A second Ramirez passed ball brought home Rice for a three-run lead.
“He gave me his whole arsenal, so just wanted to stay back and make them play defense,” Yankees’ Stanton said. “Not ideal conditions out there, so as long as I put the ball in play, it’s important.”
Stanton is now hitting .393 with five RBIs in 10 plate appearances with runners in scoring position.
Boone called it simply: “Huge at-bat, quality at-bat, obviously in a very big spot.”
Bednar slams the door in nerve-wracking fashion
Closer David Bednar made the ninth inning far more interesting than the Yankees would have liked. Otto Lopez led off with an infield single after Jazz Chisholm Jr. misread a routine grounder. Xavier Edwards singled to score Lopez.
With runners on first and second and one out, Bednar struck out Owen Caissie. No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja singled to reload the bases. The Yankees closer then struck out Griffin Conine on three pitches to seal it.
The save, Bednar’s fourth, came after 33 pitches and left everyone in the building at least temporarily on edge.
“Definitely a very frustrating [inning], but that’s baseball,” the Yankees closer said. “Balls are going to find holes, and sometimes you put yourself in those spots. But I think ultimately, it’s pretty black and white, you do the job or not. Just all about finding a way.”
What the win says about these Yankees
The Yankees were outhit 15-6 on Saturday. They drew 10 walks, scored on a stolen base, a pair of passed balls, a sacrifice fly and a well-fought infield single.
That kind of win is exactly what the organization said it wanted heading into 2026, with less reliance on the home run and more creativity throughout the lineup.
“Cold, windy, behind early,” Boone said, “and the quality of at-bat just never went away.”
Before Saturday’s game, Yankees’ Chisholm had told Newsday the team wanted everyone, including Stanton, stealing bags. Hours later, Stanton actually did.
“It seems like everyone had a big at-bat tonight in some way, shape or form,” Boone said, “to allow us to score a bunch of runs, which obviously tonight we needed.”
The Yankees have now matched the 1998 club and a handful of other squads for the best start through eight decisions in franchise history. Their pitching will return. Their lineup, it turns out, does not need it to.
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