Yankees' Will Warren struggles, defense can't back him up in series loss to Rays
New York Yankees pitcher Will Warren against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Ed Murray
Will Warren didn’t get much help from his defense.
But the righthander, who has flashed some positives but has mostly struggled in his first full season in the majors as a starter, didn’t do much to help himself, either.
Warren, coming off a 3 1⁄3-inning outing at Baltimore in his previous start, didn’t fare much better on Sunday afternoon in the Yankees’ 7-5 loss to the Rays in front of 43,349 at the Stadium.
His defense did commit two errors behind him, but Warren simply didn’t have his best stuff over 4 2⁄3 innings in which he allowed five runs (three earned), seven hits and three walks. He did strike out eight, but Warren fell to 1-2 with a 5.65 ERA.
“I feel like the whole day was a little up and down,” he said. “They hit the ball kind of where we weren’t. Had three free passes . . . They were taking advantage of every little thing we gave them.”
The Yankees (19-15), still in first place in what continues to appear to be a not-very-good AL East, were outhit 16-8 and lost the final two games of the series.
They did, however, make it interesting late.
With his team trailing 7-2 entering the eighth, Aaron Judge extended his on-base streak to 30 games with a leadoff double against righty Mason Englert. Cody Bellinger walked and Paul Goldschmidt smoked an RBI single to left.
In came righthander Edwin Uceta to face Jasson Dominguez, who singled off the rightfield wall to load the bases with none out. J.C. Escarra tapped into a 1-2-3 double play, but Jorbit Vivas, who pinch hit in the seventh for second baseman Pablo Reyes, stung a two-run single to center to make it 7-5.
Pinch hitter Ben Rice walked to put runners on first and second, but Uceta got Oswald Peraza to ground to short.
Pete Fairbanks struck out Trent Grisham, Judge and Bellinger in the ninth for his eighth save in eight chances.
“[We] fell short, especially on the offensive side, not really getting things going,” Judge said. “Guys battled till the end and we gave ourselves an opportunity.”
Though Aaron Boone said Warren “kind of got a little bit singled to death,” plenty of those were of the hard-hit variety. And the Rays (16-18) probably felt the game never should have been in doubt as they went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16. The Yankees went 4-for-11 with RISP and left seven on base.
Rays righthander Taj Bradley (3-2), who allowed six runs and nine hits against the Yankees on April 17 in Tampa, allowed two runs, four hits and three walks in 5 1⁄3 innings on Sunday, striking out one. The two runs came in the sixth inning on the 200th home run of Bellinger’s career and cut the Yankees’ deficit to 5-2.
Jonathan Aranda’s two-run single in the seventh off Carlos Carrasco gave the Rays a 7-2 lead.
“They’ve got a really good pitching staff, from their bullpen to their starting pitchers,” Judge said of his team’s struggles to score most of the series. “They were kind of able to subdue us there the whole series.”
The Rays scored an unearned run in the second inning, helped by an error by Peraza. They took a 2-0 lead in the third on Aranda’s homer and scored three times in the fourth, with one of those runs unearned after a catcher’s interference call on Escarra. Brandon Lowe had a two-run single in the inning.
Taylor Walls, who entered the day batting .151, had four hits for the Rays. Aranda, Yandy Diaz and Travis Jankowski, who helped lead Stony Brook to the 2012 College World Series, had three each.
Good news on Volpe
It appears the Yankees have avoided the worst-case scenario with Anthony Volpe and his left shoulder.
Speaking before the game, Boone said the MRI and X-rays Volpe underwent on Saturday all came back showing “good news” — meaning no structural damage.
“He’s sore,” Boone said before Sunday’s game. “But feel like we’re probably in a good spot. [He’s] day-to-day right now. Probably [will] do some hitting [Sunday], see where he’s at with that. Strength and everything is real good. So I would say overall encouraging news.”
Volpe hurt the shoulder attempting to make a diving stop in the eighth inning Saturday.
After Sunday’s game, Boone said Volpe took dry swings in the trainer’s room late Sunday morning with no issues and could play Monday night when the Yankee start a three-game series against the Padres. The safe way to bet, though, is Volpe getting at least one more day off.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
