Rookie Warren ‘Caves In’ on Old Timer’s Day. Colorado 9 NY 2

August 25, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Alex Verdugo hitting a homer in the 4th to make it a 6-2 game.

After 2 hours of the yearly Old Timer’s Day lovefest — with former Yankee champions like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, Willie Randolph and all the rest talking about winning championships — rookie Will Warren went out and got bombed and the current-day Yanks lost to Colorado, 9-2.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium — sunny with temps in the 80’s.

Will Warren was pitching because he’s been added to the rotation as the emergency 5th starter after Luis Gil was placed on the 10-day IL with a lower back strain on August 21. Warren needs to hold down the fort until either Gil or Clarke Schmidt (rehabbing in AAA) get back.

Former Yankee Jake Cave did a lot of the damage against Warren — and the Yankee pen — going 4-5 with a homer and 3 RBI’s on the day. The Yankees traded Cave to Minnesota in 2018 for Luis Gil.

“You see all the flashes of it; you see the swing and miss; you see all the arsenal that’s capable of getting it,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Warren. “But I thought at times he was getting ahead, and then some non-competitive ones that allowed them to get back in the count, and a mistake that hurts him.”

“And that’s part of just growing, and part of his development — and things I feel like he’ll continue to get better at,” continued Boone. “Just letting guys getting back into the count when you do have leverage; and that next level of execution of command of where you want the ball going.”

“I like his makeup on the mound; I like his presence out there; he’s not afraid,” added Boone. “He’s got confidence. But he’s taking his lumps a little bit here. Hopefully things we can all learn from and help him grow from, because he’s got the pitches to get it done.”

The Yankees fall to 76-54, .5 ahead of Baltimore for 1st place in the AL East. Colorado improves to 48-82.

1. Warren Caves In

The game started at 2pm after all the Yankee legends left the field — and then it turned ugly quick as the Yanks were down 6-0 by the top of the 3rd.

Warren allowed a 1-out double to Ezequiel Tovar in the 1st, struck out a batter, but allowed a 2-out RBI single to Ryan McMahon and Colorado was up 1-0. Warren struck out the final batter of the 1st so the damage was minimal.

Old Friend Cave Gets Warren

But in the 2nd there was more damage — a leadoff walk to Michael Toglia and an RBI double by former Yankee Jake Cave and Arizona had a 2-0 lead. Warren struck the last 2 batters out so again — not so bad — Yanks down 2-0.

But there was more damage in the 3rd — a leadoff double by Tovar, a balk, an RBI single by Brenton Doyle and it was 3-0 Colorado.

Cave Gets Warren Again

Warren got a strike out and a fly out so looked to be almost out of the jam with again, not so bad damage — but then an infield single by Michael Toglia, a 2-RBI single by Jake Cave, and an RBI double by Greg Jones and it was 6-0 Colorado — before Warren got a strikeout to finally end the inning.

“They got some good swings on good pitches,” said Warren, the 25-year-old righty from Mississippi, afterwards. “The Cave double; Tovar double. And then just not being able to minimize the damage. It comes down to just minimizing, and just got to be better.”

2. Colorado Rookie Blalock Limits Yanks

Meanwhile, Colorado started Bradley Blalock, a 23-year-old 6’2 righty, and he stifled the Yankees.

NY started out well — with Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto leading off the bottom of the 1st with singles. But Blalock got Aaron Judge to ground out, Austin Wells to foul out, and Jazz Chisholm to strike out to end the inning.

Blalock struck out the side in the 2nd around a 1-out walk to Alex Verdugo.

Given a 6-0 lead, Blalock allowed a run in the 3rd to make it 6-1, and a solo homer to Alex Verdugo in the 4th to make it 6-2, but pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th and left in the 6th, up 7-2. His line: 5.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 5 K’s, and walked 4. He wins to go 1-0 3.06.

“Obviously having not seen him, other than video and reports and things — I thought he mixed pretty well,” said Yank manager Aaron Boone about Blalock. “He mixed both breaking balls — the curve and the slider. The split was good for him especially against our lefthanded hitters. Used the 4 seam. He stayed unpredictable enough and was throwing enough strikes with everything that he gave us a little bit of issue.”

“But I think we had some chances,” continued Boone. “We had 7 baserunners in those 5 innings against him but didn’t quite mount enough and you’re playing catchup a little bit. He made enough pitches.”

3. Chisholm Drives in Run to Make It 6-1 in 3rd

The first run the Yanks got against Blalock was in the 3rd — Gleyber Torres led off with a walk, and then after 2 outs, Austin Wells walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Jazz Chisholm Jr. ripped a double to center for a 6-1 game.

With runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs — the Yanks were a single away from making it a game again — but Blalock got Anthony Volpe to fly out to left.

4. Verdugo HR Makes it 6-2 in 4th

Alex Verdugo broke an 0-21 slump by hitting a 402-foot homer to center leading off the 4th to make it a 6-2 game. The Yanks looked like they might still make a game of it.

5. Leiter & Tonkin Allow HR’s

But Mark Leiter Jr.gave immediately gave back the run by allowing a 1-out solo homer to Michael Toglia in the top of the 5th and Colorado was up 7-2.

Michael Tonkin put it out of reach in the top of the 7th — allowing a 1-out single to Toglia and a 2-run homer to that man again — old friend Jake Cave — for a 9-2 game.

Cave had a day — going 4-5 with the homer and 3 RBI. The 31-year-old lefty is now slashing 7-34-.262.

6. Hill & Kahnle Pitch Well

Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle pitched shutout innings in the 8th and 9th, respectively. Hill was helped by a tremendous play by Jazz Chisholm Jr.at 3rd base to end the inning.

7. Verdugo Ends with an Unlucky Lineout

But the Yanks never mounted any more offense against Blalock or the Colorado pen.

Alex Verdugo — who also had a day, breaking out of his recent slump — went 1-3 with a walk and the homer but could’ve had more than that, as was robbed both times he made out.

In the 9th Verdugo hit a SHOT down 3rd that McMahon made a tremendous play on, snaring the liner.

Colorado reliever Anthony Molina then struck out Ben Rice and Trent Grisham for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570408

 

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