Volpe Stars. Rice & Caballero HR’s in 9th Rout Jays. NY 8 Toronto 3

June 15, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Ben Rice PUNISHES a ball to right in the 9th for a 2-run HR and 5-3 Yankee lead.

Ben Rice broke a 3-3 tie with a 2-run HR in the top of the 9th, and Jose Caballero followed a few batters later with a 3-run HR to break the game open and give the Yanks an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays on a Sunday afternoon in Toronto.

The win allowed NY to take 2 of 3 in the 3-game set at Rogers Center, a place where the Yankees went 1-6 in 2025, a key reason why Toronto was able to tie them for the AL lead in wins and take the AL East division title on a tie-breaker, sending NY to the wildcard round.

The Yanks now have a 4-3 record at Rogers Center this year.

Anthony Volpe had a game — making 3 stellar plays in the field and going 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s at the plate.

Will Warren started for NY and pitched well but threw a lot of pitches, causing him to only last 4 innings of 8-hit, 2-run ball. He was helped by 3 double play balls — the first 2 started spectacularly by Volpe.

Jake Bird came in and allowed a HR to tie the game 3-3, but Tim Hill, Brent Headrick, Camilo Doval, and David Bednar pitched a shutout inning each. Doval was especially sharp, striking out 2 in a 1-2-3 8th inning to get the win (3-0 5.06).

“A lot of pitches,” said manager Aaron Boone when asked what he saw from Warren. “A couple of plays we don’t make behind him extend innings and then they’re just long innings. A good job of at least limiting the damage there — 2 runs. We’ve had a couple of outings where our starters have gone a little shorter but they it hasn’t been a terrible line. And that’s a credit to them and a credit to Will. Held the line, gave us a chance on a day when it wasn’t perfect.”

NY improves to 43-27, in 1st in the AL East by a game over Tampa. Toronto falls to 34-38, in 3rd place 10 games back.

1. Volpe and Sanchez RBI Hits Put Yanks Up 2-0 in 2nd

Patrick Corbin started for Toronto. The 36-year-old 6’4 lefty was the pitcher so many Yankee fans wanted NY to sign to a long-term contract as a free agent back in 2019, when the Yanks instead opted to sign James Paxton to a 2-year deal. Corbin would have 1 good year with Washington before a disasterous stretch where he led the NL in loses 3 straight years while pitching to ERA’s between 5.20 and 6.31. (Paxton would have 1 good year for NY before blowing out his arm.)

Corbin finally played out his contract and spent last year with Texas where he went 7-11 4.40, and was 2-3 4.57 this year coming in.

The Yanks jumped on Corbin to start the top of the 1st with consecutive singles by Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice, but a strikeout, line out, and fly out later, Corbin was out of the inning.

NY kept pressuring him in the 2nd — Max Schuemann lining a double off the wall in left with 1 out, and Anthony Volpe singling him home for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

Next batter Ali Sanchez doubled to center and NY was up 2-0. The journeyman was added to the Yankee roster last week to be the right-handed batting part of the catcher platoon, as he has been hitting to an over .700 OPS in AAA.

2. Warren Good But “A lot of Pitches”

Will Warren didn’t have his best stuff but was ok. NY’s defense didn’t make some plays behind him, but made up for it with some stellar plays behind him.

Like in the bottom of the 1st when George Springe led off with a single, but Anthony Volpe made a tremendous play to turn a grounder by Nathan Lukes into a double play.

And in the 2nd, when 3rd baseman Kazuma Okamoto led off with a double, leftfielder Jesus Sanchez walked, and catcher Davis Schneider walked to load the bases with 1 out. Warren got centerfielder Charles McAdoo to fly out to shallow right, and Volpe made another terrific play to end the inning with the bases juiced.

In the 3rd, Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed a leadoff grounder by Nathan Lukes to get by him — ruled a single. Alexandro Kirk singled to right to put runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out — but Jose Caballero made a terrific jump throw to turn another double play.

Unfortunately Amed Rosario made a throwing error on what should have been the final out of the inning — scoring a run for a 2-1 game.

Warren scuffed through the 4th as well — single, strikeout, fly out, single by George Springer, and single by Nathan Lukes for a 2-2 tie, before getting Kirk to ground out and end the inning.

Warren’s line: 4 IP, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 K, 3 walks, 98 pitches. He doesn’t get a decision — his slash line is 7-1 3.47.

3. Volpe RBI Double Puts Yanks Up 3-2 in 6th

Anthony Volpe came through again in the 6th, with a 2-out RBI single to left, scoring Jazz Chisholm Jr. who had walked to lead off the inning — and NY had a 3-2 lead.

4. Bird Allows Tying HR

Tim Hill relieved Warren and pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 5th.

But Jake Bird pitched the 6th and allowed a 413-foot solo blast to center by Davis Schneider for a 3-3 tie.

5. Headrick and Doval Pitch Good

Brent Headrick pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 7th — pop out, strike out, pop out.

And Camilo Doval looked Electric in the 8th with a 1-2-3 shutout inning — strikeout, strikeout, groundout. He was throwing 101-MPH Heat.

6. Rice & Caballero HR’s Rout Jays in 9th

And so it was to the 9th with Braydon Fisher pitching for Toronto in a 3-3 game.

Fisher struck out Spencer Jones to start the inning, but Paul Goldschmidt reached on an infield single and Ben Rice PUNISHED a 3-2 pitch 381 feet to right for a 5-3 Yankee lead.

Next batter Jasson Dominguez walked, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a 1-out walk, bringing up Jose Caballero who got all of one for a 420-foot HR to center and 8-3 game.

7. Bednar Finishes

David Bednar — who had just struck out the side for a save the day before — pitched the 9th. This time he was not perfect but didn’t need to be with the 8-3 lead. He allowed single, lineout, fly out, double, and line out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401815753

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*