Daily Report – 8/24/26
Yankees
The youth movement that has powered the Yankees’ offense’s revival is starting to reverberate throughout the rest of the lineup.
Yesterday was one of those Bronx afternoons fans have been craving for weeks. Finally, the offense caught up with the pitching, helping the Yankees take two of three games from the Toronto Blue Jays and, with an 8-3 win, reach a season-high-tying 18 games over .500.
Toronto’s downfall and the struggles across the American League East have been a major factor in the Yankees’ recent stretch of wins. Last year, the Yankees finished 6-11 against Toronto, including the postseason. This year, they have won the season series 7-6.
Yesterday’s victory was the Yankees’ most recent addition to their 12-8 stretch this month, part of a 20-14 stretch since the All-Star break. Since George Lombard Jr.’s debut, the Yankees are 11-6. Following a 2-for-4 afternoon at the plate, Lombard is 8-for-25 (.320) in his last seven games.
Lombard prompted two rallies yesterday. In the second inning, he singled, and with his speed, scored on a long double by Spencer Jones. Then, with the score tied in the sixth inning, he ignited a three-run frame with a snazzy infield single.
Not everything has been perfect for Lombard, though. He committed an error in each of the Yankees’ three games this weekend, including one yesterday that extended Carlos Rodón’s inning and helped Toronto tie the score. But Lombard and his teammates understand this is part of his learning process, and he bailed himself out at the plate.
Fortunately, on a weekend when Giancarlo Stanton strained his left calf while recovering from an injury to his right one, Spencer Jones has been a massive force. He recorded two hits and a walk yesterday, and he and Lombard each have eight hits in their last 25 at-bats.
Lombard is four years younger than Jones, who is two years younger than his best friend, Ben Rice. For Players’ Weekend, Jones wore a belt with Rice’s face on it, and Lombard wore one featuring Jones’s face.
In the sixth inning, Rice drove in two massive runs with two outs, two strikes, and the bases loaded, extending the Yankees’ lead to 5-2 after Grisham walked in the go-ahead run.
As much as Lombard, Jones, and Rice embraced Players’ Weekend, nobody enjoys it more than Jazz Chisholm Jr. Always eager to integrate his personality with his uniform, Chisholm was his team’s best performer at the plate yesterday, flashing two hits and two RBIs, including a two-run seventh-inning home run.
This hasn’t been the season Chisholm envisioned, especially after declaring he would hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases. But recently, Chisholm has shortened his swing, and he is 7-for-22 (.318) with three stolen bases in his last seven contests.
In addition to his home run, Chisholm’s sixth-inning bunt loaded the bases for a three-run rally. In his last five games, the Yankees’ second baseman has doubled, tripled, homered, and stolen two bases.
“He can do so many things to take over a game on both sides of the ball, and today was a peek into that,” said manager Aaron Boone.
Said Chisholm, “It gets frustrating sometimes, but I have such great teammates in the clubhouse that I just keep my head on a swivel. It just helps me go on the field, forget about [my struggles], and wipe it from my memory. I go and play defense the best that I can, go run the bases as best I can when I get on.
“It just reminds me of the talent I have and the things I’ve done before.”
Including Chisholm’s homer and Grisham’s eighth-inning solo shot, five of the Yankees’ eight RBIs came with two outs. Seven of them came with two strikes. The Bombers consistently pressured Toronto’s pitching while their bullpen excelled.
After Ryan Weathers exited Saturday’s game early with a left forearm flexor strain, the Yankees only needed three relievers for 5 2/3 frames. They lost that game, but their bullpen kept them in it.
Due to a pitch count yesterday, Carlos Rodón lasted four innings, but Paul Blackburn, Ryan Yarbrough, and Brent Headrick tossed five one-run frames. Blackburn stole the show, retiring each of his six batters faced. The jack-of-all-trades pitcher, mainly the Yankees’ set-up man, has become one of the best relievers in baseball.
Blackburn hasn’t allowed a run in 12 straight appearances, plus 27 of his last 29, in which he has recorded a 0.67 ERA. He and Headrick, whose 56 scoreless appearances lead the league and are tied with Mariano Rivera for the most through the team’s first 130 games all-time, have formed the perfect bridge for David Bednar, whose 30 saves rank third in the AL.
Regarding Ryan Weathers, the Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief that he only suffered a flexor strain. The lefty has an extensive injury history, and this season, he has pitched 42 2/3 more innings than his previous season high, which he achieved in 2021.
Also, eerily similar to Clarke Schmidt last season, Weathers’s injury arrived after arguably the best stretch of his career. In five straight starts before Sunday, Weathers allowed one run or fewer and pitched into the sixth inning or later. He is expected to return to the team this season “in some capacity,” which could mean a bullpen role.
Weathers’s injury news arrived on the same day as Giancarlo Stanton’s. After straining his right calf and reinjuring it while running, Stanton fell over while running the bases during his second rehab, straining his left calf. The injury is likely season-ending.
But the Yankees did get Cody Bellinger back from the IL. He went 1-for-4 yesterday, and his return to left field bumped Heliot Ramos to the bench. Also, Ryan McMahon is on the 10-day injured list, recovering from a left thumb sprain he sustained in Baltimore last week.
Meanwhile, Max Fried still expects to return to the rotation after spending the minimum 15 days on the IL. He could return as soon as this weekend. For now, the Yankees called up Brendan Beck to take Weathers’s spot, and then replaced him with Justin Topa.
The Yankees are off today, but tomorrow, they will start a three-game series against Houston. Then, they will host Boston for four games this weekend, including a split doubleheader on Saturday, to conclude their homestand.
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
