Here Come the Yankees! In the Sun & The Wind & the Rain. NY 7 Tampa 4

August 1, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0
Big G with a 2-run BLAST into and through the wind in the 1st.

The Yankees beat Tampa 7-4 on a crazy, whirlwind, sunny, rain-drenched, long Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium — while rebuilding their bullpen and acquiring Tampa’s starting shortstop mid game.

The Runs in the Sun & the Breeze

The Yankees came out on Fire — making it look easy by scoring runs in the first 3 innings — with HR’s by Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice — to take a 7-0 lead — on an absolutely gorgeous, breezy sunny summer day, which made it feel like you were at the beach at Yankee Stadium.

But then fans watched as Marcus Stroman gave 4 runs back in the 4th to make it a game again.

The Rain and the Wait

Then came the rain — in the bottom of the 5th– with torrential bursts at time, causing mass flooding in the area — and the long wait to see if the game would continue, as it was an official game. Fans waited for hours with no word from the Yankees — from 2:40pm when the game was stopped, to 5pm when the Yankees finally announced the game would continue at 5:20pm.

The Trades

Meanwhile the Trade Deadline was coming to a crescendo end at 6pm — and fans in the stands and players in the dugouts were watching their phones as a slew of trades across baseball were announced — one of the most active trade deadlines in years. At about 4pm the Yanks announced they had acquired Pirates’ ace closer David Bednar.

Fifteen minutes later word came across they had acquired reliever Jake Bird from Colorado. There were a slew of trades coming — in fact the Yankees acquired Tampa’s starting shortstop — Jose Caballero — in the 8th inning — not announced until after the game was over just after 6pm. The Yanks also acquired SF Giant reliever Camilo Doval.

The End Game

Those who left the Stadium during the LONG delay missed Yerry De los Santos‘s Immaculate Hold —  9 straight outs including 5 strikeouts — in pitching a shutout 6th, 7th, and 8th. And then Jonathan Loaisiga a shutout 9th for a 7-4 Yankee win.

When the rain had cleared the Yankees had beefed up their bullpen mightily and put a fire under Anthony Volpe at shortstop — although Caballero slots into the Oswald Peraza role, as he was traded to the Angels. All 3 relievers acquired are under contract for the next 2 years, so are not rentals.

And the Yankees had taken 3 of 4 from Tampa and are now only 3.5 behind Toronto with a record of 60-49.

Here come the Yankees!

Boone’s Thoughts

“Excited,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about the trades. “Going back to the start of it with (Ryan) McMahon, and then Amed (Rosario), Austin (Slater), and now obviously the additions today. I just saw Caballero in our clubhouse — so that was a little odd. I saw him actually hugging people over there in the 8th. I knew we were in closing, or definitely in the picture so I figured maybe that was the case, but I wasn’t sure. And then obviously during the rain delay I knew about Bird and Bednar, and knew there was a chance about Duval too.”

“Love what they were able to do,” continued Boone. “I think we’re a better club today than yesterday, and certainly today than we were last week. Now we know what we’re going with and what we’ve got. Onward.”

Caballero Won

“We won the game, I guess,” said Tampa-shortstop-until-the-8th-and-Yankee-afterwards Caballero, with a laugh. “That’s what I feel right now.”

1. Giancarlo HR Into the Stiff Breeze

Tampa started 27-year-old, 6’3 righty Ryan Pepiot and the Yanks jumped on him right away in the bottom of the 1st — Paul Goldschmidt with a 1-out double to left and Cody Bellinger with an RBI single to center for a 1-0 NY lead.

Giancarlo Stanton then hit a ROCKET into the stiff wind coming in from left — and still put the ball into the middle of the left field bleachers. Yankees 3 Rays 0.

2. Rice 3-Run HR in 2nd Makes It 6-0

The Yanks got more on Pepiot in the 2nd — Ryan McMahon worked a 1-out walk, Anthony Volpe followed with a walk, and Ben Rice hit a quick-swing SHOT to right center — traveling 400 feet for a 3-run HR and 6-0 Yankee lead.

3. Slater RBI Makes It 7-0

The Yanks continued to knock Pepiot around in the 3rd. Giancarlo Stanton led off with another shot to left — this one held up by the wind and caught by the warning track.

But Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a walk and Jasson Dominguez singled to right to put runners on 1st and 3rd. New Yankee Austin Slater grounded into a fielder’s choice to 3rd, scoring Jazz and making it 7-0 NY.

4. Stroman Gives 4 Back in 4th

Meanwhile Marcus Stroman was pitching great — a shutout thru 3, including a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd and 3rd. But he lost it in the 4th:

Finally Stroman got a fly out to end the inning — but it was a game again.

And Pepiot — incredibly still in the game — settled down, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 4th.

In the top of the 5th, Stroman got an out, but then yielded another single to Brandon Lowe and here we go again.

But Stroman hung tough — getting Morel to hit an 81-MPH slurve into a doubleplay groundout. That slurve would get Stroman a win (to go 3-2 6.23 on the year).

5. The Rain and the Wait

Tampa brought in Kevin Kelly to pitch the bottom of the 5th. Giancarlo Stanton got on due to a throwing error by 3rd baseman Junior Caminero, the throw off line causing Stanton to ram into the 1st baseman Jonathan Aranda.

Aranda went down in pain with what looked like a broken wrist. But after the game it was announced he’d be out day to day.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit into a fielder’s choice (Stanton out at 2nd), then went to 2nd on a passed ball, and stole 3rd after Jasson Dominguez walked.

So it was 1st and 3rd with 1 out when the RAIN came BURSTING down.

6. De Los Santos Immaculate Hold

3 hours later — Austin Slater grounded into a double play to end the 5th.

And then Yerry De los Santos put on a pitching exhibition in front of a nearly empty Yankee Stadium. 9 straight outs for a shutout 6th, 7th, and 8th — striking out 5 — including striking out the side in the 7th.

7. Loaisiga Finishes

Jonathan Loaisiga came in for the 9th, and immediately allowed a leadoff double — and here we go again.

But Loaisiga got ground out, pop out, and strike out of DeLuca swinging for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401696544

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