Daily Report – 6/1/26
Yankees
In one unique, peculiar, and historic third inning in Sacramento yesterday, the Yankees put up a 13-spot against the Athletics. Oddly, the Yankees didn’t earn a single hit in each of the other eight innings, but they won the game 13-8.
Coming off Saturday’s contest in which the Yankees, trailing 5-1, nearly completed a five-walk ninth-inning comeback, and Ryan Weathers, despite permitting five runs, earned 10 strikeouts, the Yankees fell behind early in yesterday’s ballgame.
After Trent Grisham lost track of a sun-obstructed pop-up, Will Warren surrendered three unearned runs in the first inning. But the righty bounced back, finishing six efficient innings with 82 pitches. He earned his seventh win of the season, matching Cam Schlittler for the team lead.
Warren’s biggest challenge yesterday was staying loose for 43 minutes as the Yankees piled on in the third inning. The clubhouse in Sutter Health Park is located in the outfield, not behind the dugout. So, in the dreary heat, Warren had to scurry across the field and throw from the bullpen mound.
“We had the big lead, and I don’t know if I was exactly myself,” Warren said. “I think I could have stepped on their throat when we wanted to. Coming back in the dugout [in the bottom of the third inning, manager Aaron Boone] and I had that talk. I went back out there and finished the game strong, so that was nice to see.”
Warren, who started the top of the third inning out of the bullpen, might have struggled to maintain composure for 43 minutes, but time passed quickly as the Yankees sent 18 batters to the plate. Their first 12 batters reached safely and scored 10 runs before the Athletics’ first out.
Ultimately, 13 of the Yankees’ 15 third-inning batters crossed home plate, and the Yankees, who never homered, finished the game 9-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Athletics fired 75 pitches at the Yankees, who fell short of tying the franchise record for runs in an inning (14), set in 1920.
“We were sitting here kind of flat, but when we have energy and press on the gas against all these teams, we’re the best team in baseball,” Aaron Judge said. “We needed all 13 of those runs because the A’s kept swinging and kind of came back there.”
The Yankees finished the third inning with 11 hits, two doubles, one triple, three walks, and three stolen bases. Anthony Volpe got things started with a single and a stolen base. Then, filling in for a resting Jazz Chisholm Jr., Max Schuemann walked.
Next, Austin Wells walked, loading the bases for Paul Goldschmidt, who earned an infield single. Then, Ben Rice tied the game with a double, and Aaron Judge found the outfield grass with a go-ahead fly ball single. Cody Bellinger then filled the bases with a single before Jacob Lopez finally exited the game.
Against Michael Kelly, José Caballero walked, and Trent Grisham singled, putting the Yankees ahead 7-3. A couple of stolen bases later, Volpe returned to the plate and lifted his bat to square up a hanging slider. His single put his team ahead 8-3, and Schuemann followed with a game-breaking two-run double.
After Schuemann’s hit, Wells walked before Goldschmidt struck out for the Yankees’ first out of the inning, much to the shegrin of Rice, who doubled in his previous at-bat. Batting behind Goldschmidt, Rice lifted a low fastball 373 feet to right field. The ball bounced off the bottom of the outfield fence, granting Rice his second triple of the season.
Two batters later, Bellinger singled again, driving in the Yankees’ 13th run of the frame. Ultimately, six Bombers reached base twice during their historic third inning. “I felt like I would run the bases, and then I’d get up to have to put my stuff back on,” Volpe said.
“We’ve got guys up and down this lineup that can hit homers,” Judge said. “But it’s guys taking walks, guys just putting the ball in play and seeing what happens. I feel like, for a couple of years, we haven’t had the ability to do something like that. But now, we’ve got the capability with the type of lineup we have.
“There’s a lot of grit in this team. That inning was fun.”
Despite being three games under .500, the Athletics are filled with heavy hitters. They took Tim Hill, a ground-ball pitcher, deep twice during the seventh inning. They also doubled twice off Fernando Cruz in the eighth and pressured David Bednar with two baserunners in the ninth.
The Athletics were one inning shy of a combined no-hitter. That’s how strange yesterday’s game was. But the Yankees, tried and true, found a lane to do damage, and they took complete advantage.
The Yankees are off today. They will begin a three-game series against Cleveland tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium.
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
