Pitching, Defense, & All that Jazz. NY 4 St. Louis 3

August 16, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-run HR in 1st puts NY up 3-0.

The Yanks got good pitching from Luis Gil and the bullpen; great defense by Cody Bellinger, Jose Caballero, and the infield which turned 4 double plays; and runs on the homerun bat of Jazz Chisholm to beat the Cardinals 4-3 on a Hot, Humid Friday night in St Louis — game-time temp 93 degrees (in the evening!).

The Yanks took a 3-0 lead in the 1st on a 2-run HR by Chisholm, and took a 4-0 lead in the 3rd when Chisholm scored on an RBI single by Jasson Dominguez.

Luis Gil and the bullpen made those runs stick — with Luke Weaver and David Bednar shutting the door in the late innings.

Cody Bellinger made sterling plays at 1st base most of the night — turning or being on the receiving end of double plays — then ended the game with a terrific catch in left. Jose Caballero made a terrific sliding catch of a leadoff liner to right in the 3rd.

“Number 1 tonite — defense,” said Luis Gil afterwards thru the Yankee translator. “That’s what really helped me out tonite and allowed me to get all the way to the 6th inning.”

“He made a lot of big pitches,” said manager Aaron Boone about Gil. “Feel like he was still kind of finding his way a little bit — kind of a testament to what a good pitcher he difficult he still is to navigate. For the most part he was retiring the leadoff man which was big, then obviously some double plays turned behind him was really good.”

NY improves to 65-57, still 6.5 behind Toronto and 1.5 behind Boston. St. Louis drops to 61-62.

1. Jazz HR in 1st Vaults Yanks to 3-0 Lead

The Cardinals stared Andre Pallante, a 26-year-old, 6’0 righty who came in with a 6-9 4.95 record and the Yanks jumped on him in the top of the 1st.

Trent Grisham worked a leadoff walk, Ben Rice doubled to right, and Aaron Judge grounded out to shortstop scoring Grisham from 3rd — NY 1 St. Louis 0 just like that.

Pallante got Cody Bellinger to fly out but with 2 outs, Jazz Chisholm Jr. golfed a 363-foot HR to right and NY was up 3-0.

2. The Martian Delivers 2-Out RBI Single in 3rd

Pallante worked out of a jam in the 2nd — a 1-out walk to Ryan McMahon, single by Caballero, and 2-out infield single by Ben Rice loaded the bases — but Aaron Judge grounded out to leave the bases loaded.

But in the 3rd, Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a 1-out walk, and Jasson Dominguez ripped a 2-out single to left to make it 4-0 NY.

3. Gil Good

Luis Gil was good — and was helped by the Yankee defense which turned 3 double plays to end the first 3 innings.

Gil walked shortstop Masyn Winn with 1 out in the bottom of the 1st — but got a 3-6-3 double play started by Bellinger at 1st to end the inning.

Gil walked 3rd baseman Nolan Gorman with 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd — but got a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Gil got help in the 3rd when Caballero made a terrific sliding catch on a liner to right by 2nd baseman Thomas Saggese for the 1st out of the inning.

Gil then allowed a 1-out single to catcher Pedro Pages — but got a 3-3 double play — as Bellinger snared a liner and doubled Pages off 1st.

Gil then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, striking out 2 — and pitched around a 2nd-and-3rd-nobody-out situation in the 5th after allowing a leadoff walk and single, then a passed ball — by getting a pop out, strikeout and ground out.

4. Leiter Gets DP to End 6th

In the 6th, Gil allowed consecutive 1-out doubles to Lars Nootbaar and Winn for a 4-1 game and was relieved by Mark Leiter Jr.

Leiter walked 1st baseman Alec Burleson to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out — but got DH Ivan Herrera to ground into a 6-4-1 double play — the Yankee infield’s 4th DP of the night!

5. Weaver Saves Doval in 7th

Camillo Doval pitched the bottom of the 7th and got in trouble: strike out, walk, strike out, hit-by-pitch put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs — and a double by centerfielder Victor Scott II to right made it a 4-2 game.

Luke Weaver came in and threw a wild pitch, scoring a run to make it 4-3 with a runner on 3rd — before striking out Nootbaar to end the inning.

Weaver then pitched a shutout 8th — allowing a 2-out single — the runner advancing to 2nd on a wild pick off throw — before striking out Gorman to end the threat and keep the game at 4-3 NY.

6. Yanks Leave Bases Loaded in 9th

The Yankee offense was held down after the Jazz HR in the 3rd.

  • There was a leadoff double by Ryan McMahon in the 4th — but Pallante struck out the next 3 batters.
  • The Yanks went out 1-2-3 in the 5th as Pallante ended his night with 5 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs, 8 K’s and 3 walks.
  • NY went out 1-2-3 in the 6th as well against reliever Jorge Alcala.
  • NY got leadoff walks by Caballero and Grisham in the 7th against Ryan Fernandez, but 3 straight outs followed, and NY went out 1-2-3 in the 8th.

In the 9th Ryan McMahon led off with a walk against Matt Svanson, Jose Caballero singled, and Trent Grisham attempted to bunt them over — but McMahon was thrown out at 3rd.

Ben Rice then struck out for the 2nd out — after which Caballero stole 3rd and Aaron Judge walked to load the bases. But Bellinger popped out to end the threat.

7. Bednar the 1-2-3 Save

And so it was to the bottom of the 9th in a 4-3 game — and David Bednar got strike out looking, strike out looking, and line out to left that Cody Bellinger raced in on to make a shoestring catch for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696740

 

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