Daily Report – 5/6/26

Yankees

Last night, Elmer Rodríguez lacked control in his second Major League start, and likely his last for the foreseeable future. The 22-year-old righty allowed three runs on six hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed all three runs in the first inning, so he settled down afterward, but in the fifth inning, he left the mound with the bases loaded.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking this article is going to be about Rodríguez and the Yankees’ excellent rotation that is going to regain Carlos Rodón on Sunday. But this article is actually a Brent Headrick appreciation report.

In the fifth inning, with the game tied 3-3 (I’ll get to that shortly), Headrick triumphantly struck out pinch-hitter Sam Haggerty on four strike zone pounders to end the inning. It shoved momentum in the Yankees’ favor, helping them earn a 7-4 win against the Texas Rangers at the Stadium.

During Spring Training, manager Aaron Boone spoke about Headrick’s excellence, but it sounded like jargon designed to cover up the fact that the Yankees’ bullpen is short on lefties. The 28-year-old Headrick stands tall at 6’6 and on the mound with runners on base. In addition to his shiny 1.47 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 19 appearances, he has inherited 13 baserunners this season… and has stranded all of them.

With Headrick’s success and Yerry De los Santos’s call-up today, here is an updated look at the AGM Sports bullpen reliability chart (from most to least reliable):

1. C: RHP David Bednar

2. SU: RHP Fernando Cruz

3. MR: LHP Brent Headrick

4. LR: RHP Paul Blackburn

5. MR: LHP Tim Hill

6. MR: RHP Camilo Doval

7. LR: LHP Ryan Yarbrough

8. MR: RHP Jake Bird

9. MR: RHP Yerry De los Santos

“I think they’re just better than everyone thinks,” Boone said of his bullpen, which has received extensive criticism from the media and has been deemed the Yankees’ biggest weakness. But yesterday, between Headrick, Hill, Cruz, and Bednar, the Yankees’ bullpen twirled 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Headrick wasn’t the only reliever to extinguish a fire.

In the seventh inning, Hill left runners at first and second base, with one out, for Cruz, who heroically struck out Ezequiel Duran with five splitters before Jake Burger popped out on three more. In the eighth inning, Cruz loaded the bases, with one out, for Bednar, who worked out of the jam with six brilliant pitches and eventually earned a five-out save.

Meanwhile, for the second time in one week, the Yankees’ offense bested Jacob deGrom, one of the best pitchers of his generation. Despite entering the bottom of the first inning trailing 3-0, the Yankees didn’t quiver. With one out in the first inning, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger doubled to put the Yankees on the board.

In the second inning, Paul Goldschmidt singled, and Ryan McMahon worked his best at-bat of the season. After swinging at a pair of changeups, McMahon quickly found himself in a 0-2 hole, but he battled, fouling off strike after strike before hammering an inside curveball over the short porch in right field for a game-tying McBlast.

The score remained tied, thanks to 1 1/3 key scoreless innings by Headrick, until the sixth inning, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. stepped up to the plate. With two outs, he launched a 98-mph fastball deep into the right-field grandstand to give the Yankees their first lead of the night.

“Every time someone goes up to the plate, we expect them to get a hit,” Chisholm said. “Every time a pitcher gets called into a game, we expect them to get out of every jam. The positivity in the clubhouse right now is just super crazy.”

In this seven-game homestand, Cody Bellinger, who went 2-for-3 yesterday with two doubles and three RBI, has been the offensive hero. In his last five games, he is 10-for-19 (.526) at the plate with two home runs and two doubles.

In the first inning yesterday, Bellinger missed the seats by mere inches against deGrom. In the seventh inning, he broke the game open with a two-run double that extended his team’s lead to three runs.

We are talking about an offense that leads the Majors in home runs (60) and ranks second in OPS (.797), runs scored (199), and runs batted in (188) despite missing Giancarlo Stanton for a week-and-a-half and Ben Rice for three days. But in the eighth inning yesterday, Goldschmidt filled in for Rice by blasting his second home run of the season, putting the Yankees ahead 7-3.

“It’s something we talked about in Spring: it can’t just be one or two guys,” Goldschmidt said. “It can’t just be one way we beat teams. We’ve got to be able to do it in all different ways, and we’ve done a good job so far. But there’s a long way to go, too.”

---

Tonight, at 7:05 PM, the Yankees will try to win the series against Texas as RHP Will Warren (4-0, 2.39 ERA) squares up against the veteran righty Nathan Eovaldi (3-4, 4.76 ERA) (Prime Video). Eovaldi shut out the Yankees last Thursday in Texas, so the Bombers hope to improve against him.

Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the New York Yankees:

1. CF Trent Grisham (L)

2. RF Aaron Judge (C) (R)

3. LF Cody Bellinger (L)

4. DH Jasson Domínguez (S)

5. 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)

6. 1B Paul Goldschmidt (R)

7. C Austin Wells (L)

8. 3B Ryan McMahon (L)

9. SS José Caballero (R)

SP: RHP Will Warren (4-0, 2.39 ERA)

Tomorrow, at 12:35 PM, it will be LHP Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.03 ERA) for the Yankees against the lefty MacKenzie Gore (2-2, 4.67 ERA) (YES, Gotham Sports).

---

Schedule

7:00 PM: 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 2, Game 2 – NYK (1-0) vs. PHI (0-1); ESPN, ESPN App

7:05 PM: NYY vs. TEX; Prime Video; SP: RHP Will Warren (4-0, 2.39 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (3-4, 4.76 ERA)

Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees