Rookie Hotshot Walbert Urena Shuts Down Yanks. LA Angels 10 NY 1

September 1, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Spencer Jones hits a 98-MPH fastball for a 400-foot HR in the 5th for the Yankees only run.

At least Spencer Jones hit another HR — his 8th of the season in 181 at bats.

And that was the highlight as the Yankees got ripped 10-1 by the Angels in Los Angeles on a Monday night.

Spencer’s HR was the only offense NY mustered against LA’s 22-year-old, rookie hot shot Walbert Urena, who goes to 9-9 2.85 after the win. Urena pitched 7 innings of 5-hit, 1-run ball, striking out 8 and walking none, his sinker hitting 101 MPH at times.

Yankee 23-year-old rookie Elmer Rodriguez was pitching well until getting wild with 2 outs in the 4th — hitting consecutive batters then allowing consecutive singles for a 4-0 LA lead. Michael Fullmer came in for the final out but then allowed 2 runs himself in the next inning.

Luis Gil made his first appearance since April, and pitched 2 innings allowing a run.

David Bednar came in to get some work in the 9th — and instead got pelted for 3 runs on 4 hits.

“I thought he was excellent,” said manager Aaron Boone about Urena afterwards. “Our first look at him. The one thing about him is he’s walked some guys — the command at times has been, you know. But command wise he was really sharp from the get go with the changeup-sinker combination.”

“I thought stuff wise Elmer was pretty good,” added Boone. “Came out right away first batter — punch; spun it well; had some life to the sinker — but then just struggled to get consistently in the zone where he needed to; couple of 2-out walks that extended innings; drove his pitch count up — ends up hitting a couple of guys later.”

NY falls to 78-60, still 4.5 behind Tampa but now only 3 ahead of Boston. LA improves to 53-85.

1. Urena Shuts Yanks Down with 101-MPH Fastball

Walbert Urena has been top shelf this year; he is a candidate for rookie of the year. He was coming off 2 poor starts but got his stuff together for the Yankees.

Urena’s sinker was hitting 101 MPH, combined with a 92-MPH changeup and sharp sweeper.

“I’ve been working a lot on my stuff,” Ureña said afterwards. “And especially after these couple of last starts that haven’t been really as good. But I’ve been working on my glove side, and I made really good pitches today. I stayed in-line every time, and everything worked really good.”

The Yankees peppered Urena for 2 singles in the 1st — by Cody Bellinger with 1 out and by Amed Rosario with 2 outs, but Urena then retired the next 11 in a row before allowing a HR to Spencer Jones in the 5th.

He then retired the next 5 Yankees in a row, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th.

By the 7th he was up 7-1. He allowed a leadoff single to Amed Rosario in the 7th, but then got a double play. With 2 outs he allowed a single to Jazz Chisholm Jr, but struck out Spencer Jones to end his evening.

Urena vs other AL rookie pitchers:

  1. Parker Messick (Cleveland) 11-8 2.46 (threw 39.2 IP last year; was 3-1 2.72)
  2. Walbert Urena 9-9 2.85
  3. Payton Tolle (Boston) 8-6 3.23 (only pitched 16.1 innings last year; was 0-1 6.06)
  4. Trey Yesavage (Toronto) 5-5 3.65 (only pitched 14 innings last year; was 1-0 3.21)

2. Elmer Good Until Getting Wild in 4th

Yankee rookie Elmer Rodriguez was matched against Urena.

Elmer looked good through the first 2 innings.

In the 3rd he allowed a leadoff double to catcher Tyler Heineman, but struck out shortstop Zach Neto and got Mike Trout to pop out. With 2 outs, he walked leftfielder Wade Meckler, and 1st baseman Vaughn Grissom singled to center for a 1-0 Angels lead.

Rodriguez got the first 2 outs of the 4th before getting wild — hitting former Yankee Oswald Peraza (slashing 7-24-.225) with a pitch, then doing the same to Tyler Heineman. Rodriguez then allowed an RBI single to Neto and a 2-RBI single to Trout for a 4-0 Angels lead.

3. Spencer HR the Only Offensive Highlight for NY

The only highlight of the night for NY came in the top of the 5th, when Spencer Jones got hold of a 98-MPH four-seam fastball from Urena and put it over the wall in right center, 400 feet away.

4. Fullmer Allows 2 Runs to Make It 6-1

New Yankee Michael Fullmer relieved Rodriguez to get the last out of the 4th, but got tagged himself for 2 runs in the 5th — a leadoff double by Grissom and a 1-out double by Moore made it 5-0. Then Fullmer tried to pitch Moore off 2nd and the ball got away — Moore scoring.

5. Gil Pitches for First Time Since April

Luis Gil pitched for the first time since April. He allowed a walk and a 1-out single in the 6th, then an unearned run when a tailor-made double play was botched and thrown away by Jose Caballero.

Gil struck out the next 2 batters to end the inning and pitched a shutout 7th.

6. Bednar Ripped in 9th

David Bednar came in for work in the 9th — and allowed single, single, double (for 2 runs), groundout, and single (for another run and a 10-1 game) before getting a lineout and groundout to end the inning.

7. Angels Pen Shuts NY Down

6’4 lefty Taylor Saucedo pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th, and 6’3 lefty Blake Weiman allowed a leadoff single to Cody Bellinger in the 9th, but then got strikeout, fly out, strikeout for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401816756

 

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