Daily Report – 5/8/25

Here is today’s report:

Yankees

Last night at Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers rallied to whack the San Diego Padres in the back. They won the game 4-3 and the series in extra innings, thanks to a pinch-hit walk-off sacrifice fly by JC Escarra.

Escarra, the Yankees’ backup catcher, used to drive Ubers. Now, he walks off baseball games for the New York Yankees. “Man, a lot was going through my mind,” said Escarra about how he felt when he stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 10th inning with a runner at third base with one out. “My heart was pounding through my chest, standing there hitting, but my story, what happened today, it makes it all worth it.”

In the top of the eighth inning, with the game tied 1-1, Ian Hamilton walked Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, and Luke Weaver allowed both baserunners to score. As Tatis Jr. rounded third base, Yankee Stadium erupted in cheers. I looked to my left and saw Tatis Jr. score, and then I looked back to my right and watched the Knicks win.

“I figured the Knicks were doing well,” said manager Aaron Boone. Yankees fans certainly weren’t cheering for their baseball team giving up the lead in the eighth inning.

San Diego’s Dylan Cease threw a no-hitter through 6 1/3 innings while Max Fried tried to match him across seven innings. Aaron Boone deemed Fried’s performance against the team that drafted him his best command of the year, and Fried agreed. However, in the fourth inning, Fried gave up a home run to Jackson Merrill to put San Diego up 1-0, and it was the first earned run Fried had allowed since April 15, 27 1/3 innings ago.

Trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning, Cody Bellinger broke up Dylan Cease’s no-no bid with his fifth home run of the season, a solo game-tying shot into the second deck in right field. And, after the Yankees went down 3-2 in the top of the eighth, Oswaldo Cabrera walked, and Trent Grisham came off the bench.

Remember, entering Tuesday’s game, San Diego had a perfect record when leading games after seven innings, but the Yankees put a stain on that on Tuesday with a 10-run seventh inning. Last night, San Diego folded again when leading after seven because Trent Grisham homered against his former team for the second time this series. His 10th home run of the season was a two-run moonshot into the second deck in right field to tie the game 3-3. Grisham has now surpassed his home run total last season.

“Just a lot of fight, a lot of grit,” said Grisham on his team’s series win against one of the best teams in the Majors. “This series was kind of the epitome of the guys that are in this locker room: A lot of fight. Every game, we were down and fighting back. We were in every single one of them. To come away with the last two is huge.”

Luke Weaver pitched a one-two-three top of the ninth before Robert Suarez tossed a scoreless bottom, so the game went to extra innings, and the Yankees called Devin Williams out of the bullpen to pitch the top of the 10th. Williams has struggled all season, most recently on Monday when he blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning. This time, against the top of San Diego’s order – one of the best one-two-three punches in baseball – Williams struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. with his “Airbender” changeup. He then walked Luis Arraez after pinch runner Brandon Lockridge stole third base. Then, he sent Manny Machado down on a foul tip before hitting Jackson Merrill with a pitch to load the bases for Xander Bogaerts, who scored the go-ahead run in Monday’s game.

Bogaerts worked the count full before Williams sent him down swinging on his changeup. “I kind of blacked out, which is a good thing,” said Williams, who let out a few screams into his glove after securing a scoreless frame. “Getting out of that without giving up any runs, I felt like our guys were going to come through and the game was going to be over,” he added. “And it was.”

Against the tough righty Jeremiah Estrada, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a sacrifice bunt to left field, moving Jasson Domínguez to third base. Then, JC Escarra walked it off with a sacrifice fly to deep left field. His teammates sprinted out of the dugout to celebrate with him on the field.

“Man, I’m living the dream,” said Escarra. “I can’t describe it.”

The Yankees are off tonight. They will begin a three-game series in Sacramento against the Athletics tomorrow night.