The Yanks trailed 5-0 in the 6th, and 7-2 in the 8th but made a game of it — falling short 7-5 on a showery Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
Taj Bradley shut the Yankee offense down for the first 5 innings before Clay Bellinger got to him with a 2-run homer in the 6th.
Will Warren had a learning performance, throwing 102 pitches before leaving with 2 outs in the 5th, down 5-0. His defense didn’t make a play behind him in the 2nd, he allowed a HR in the 3rd, and got singled to death in a 34-pitch 4th inning but hung tough and didn’t let the game get completely away.
“We didn’t make a play behind him; he gave up the homer to (Jonathan) Aranda; (Brandon) Lowe got him the other way with us kind of shifted over, and (then he) got singled to death. A few too many walks,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Warren’s performance.
“It’s baseball,” added Boone about the Yanks not scoring until late. “That’s what they (the Rays) do. You look at the arms they throw at you; starting and relief. You have to be able to win some low-scoring games too.”
NY falls to 19-15; Tampa takes 2 of 3 in the series to improve to 16-18.
1. Warren Learning Opportunity
Will Warren had good stuff and struck out a career-high 8 batters, but the Rays got 5 runs on him by slapping the ball around for singles and using their speed to leg out infield hits or cause Yankee infielders to rush plays and make errors.
Will Warren, Filthy 88mph Changeup. ? pic.twitter.com/fRlf0mLUrN
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 4, 2025
Warren allowed a single and a walk in the 2nd inning, then got a double-play grounder by Taylor Walls that Oswald Peraza booted at shortstop, causing everyone to be safe. A groundout scored the 1st run of the game.
Jonathan Aranda led off the 3rd with a HR off Warren and it was 2-0 Tampa.
Then came the 34-pitch 4th inning when Warren was singled to death:
- Travis Jankowski singled
- Ben Rortvedt struck out
- Taylor Walls singled
- The super-fast Chandler Simpson reached on catcher’s interference by JC Escarra.
- Brandon Lowe singled in a run
- Yandy Diaz reached on an infield single to shortstop
- Jonathan Aranda walked, loading the bases
But Warren got tough — getting Kameron Misner on a comebacker — Warren throwing home for the out, then striking out Curtis Mead.
Warren struck out the first 2 batters of the 5th before leaving at 102 pitches.
2. Bradley Tough
Meanwhile Taj Bradley was tough. The 24-year-old, 6’2 righty used a variety of pitches including a 95-MPH four-seam fastball, curve, splitter, and cutter to pitch a shutout through 5 innings.
He scattered a walk in the 1st and 2nd, and in the 3rd got Aaron Judge to hit into a double play after Peraza and Trent Grisham had led off the inning with singles.
Bradley then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th and 5th.
3. Bellinger Gets to Bradley in 6th
Finally the Yanks broke through against Bradley in the 6th — a leadoff single by Trent Grisham, and a 1-out, 2-run homer by Bellinger.
Congrats Cody on 200 Career Homers! ? pic.twitter.com/51Fn8FKqQ8
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 4, 2025
4. Matzek Holds ‘Em
Tyler Matzek relieved Warren with 2 outs and nobody on in the 5th — then got into his own trouble, allowing a double to Taylor Walls, an infield single to the super fast Simpson, and walking Brandon Lowe to load the bases — before getting Yandy Diaz to line out to right.
Matzek navigated 2 more singles in the 6th, getting a fly out to end the inning — and thereby pitched 1.2 rope-a-dope, shutout innings.
5. Carrasco Pitches 3 Innings
But with NY having cut the deficit to 5-2, Carlos Carrasco came in and allowed 2 runs in the 7th to put Tampa back up by 5 runs.
He allowed a single to Taylor Walls, the super-fast Simpson to reach on a bunt single, walked Brandon Lowe, struck out Yandy Diaz, but allowed a 2-run single to Aranda before getting 2 fly outs to end the inning.
Carrasco pitched a shutout 8th and 9th to hold the score after that.
6. Yanks Rally for 3 in 8th
And the Yanks got a late rally in the 8th — started by Aaron Judge with a leadoff double against reliever Mason Englert.
Bellinger walked behind Judge and Paul Goldschmidt singled in a run for a 7-3 game.
Jasson Dominguez singled to right and the Yanks were cooking — with bases loaded, nobody out.
But J.C. Escarra hit into a double play — home to 1st — to seemingly kill the rally.
However, with 2 outs, Jorbit Vivas came through with a 2-RBI single — his first hit in the Big Leagues — to make it a 7-5 game.
Jorbit’s first base-hit in the Big Leagues ? pic.twitter.com/6VCPaOuzkK
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 4, 2025
Ben Rice walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd, but Peraza grounded out to end the threat.
In the 9th, Pete Fairbanks struck out the side — Grisham, Judge, and Bellinger — 1-2-3 for the old ballgame.
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