Daily Report – 9/10/26
Yankees
The Yankees rank third in the league in home runs – impressive, by the way, given Aaron Judge’s 84-game absence – yet it took them 145 games to hit a grand slam.
Last night, against the Colorado Rockies, George Lombard Jr. delivered the big blow, striking the Yankees’ first grand slam this season. At 21 years and 99 days, he became the second-youngest player, and the youngest since Mickey Mantle in 1952, to serve salami in pinstripes.
Only a few weeks ago, Lombard tied a franchise record by committing errors in six straight games. The shortstop flashed impressive defense during his first two weeks in the Majors, but struggled on both sides of the ball in his next two.
Then, a minor knee injury sidelined him for a few games, giving him the time he needed to reset mentally. Since returning to the Yankees’ lineup on September 4, Lombard is 3-for-17 (.176), but he has hit safely in three straight contests.
“I think it was good, in a way, for me to get through that,” Lombard said of his long streak of errors. “Obviously, it wasn’t good for the team; it put us in a bad spot. But I think I just learned from it. That’s all you can do is just gain that experience and see how it is to bounce back from that.”
Lombard’s grand slam highlighted a 6-1 win, lifting his team to a season-high 21 games over .500. The Rays won yesterday, but Boston lost, so the Yankees are four games ahead of the Red Sox (five with the tiebreaker) for second place.
Lombrd wasn’t the only Yankee who hit a home run yesterday. Leading off in the second inning, Luis García Jr. took Tomoyuki Sugano deep for his 29th homer of the season. In the eighth, Cody Bellinger also went yard.
While he didn’t homer, Judge went 2-for-4 with two singles. He played into the eighth inning, after dragging a fastball through the left side of the infield for his second hit. His first hit came with two outs in the third inning, as he won an eight-pitch battle.
“I feel like both nights, it’s all really valuable for him,” said manager Aaron Boone, who pulled Judge early from both games this week and excluded him from tonight’s lineup. “Just continuing to see different pitches, have at-bats. I feel like his swing decisions have been pretty good so far.
“The more we do it, the more comfortable he’ll get. Good to see him throw a couple knocks out there, though.”
Judge looked poised and confident at the plate yesterday. When he was injured in late May, he wasn’t putting his usual force into swings. As he showed yesterday, though, when healthy, he swings the bat so hard that even when the ball misses the core of his barrel, it still lands for a hit.
Meanwhile, on the mound, Will Warren was excellent in his first start since facing Boston on August 30. After 2 1/3 scoreless innings relieving Max Fried last Friday, Warren returned to the rotation and allowed one run to Colorado on four hits and eight strikeouts.
“I trust everything that I have throughout the season, even when it wasn’t going good there for a minute,” said Warren, whose only blemish was a fifth-inning solo shot by Connor Norby. “When you can throw it where you want, you can trust it a little more.”
Warren has a 4.05 ERA this season, but he has allowed just two runs in his last three games. He lasted seven innings in his last start, but this time, he struck out more batters and allowed fewer hits. He could become an exciting reliever in the postseason.
After Sugano struck out the side in the bottom of the opening frame, Warren did the same in the top of the second. In the bottom of the inning, when it looked like Sugano could silence the Yankees’ bats, García hammered a hanging sinker into the right-field seats.
The Rockies led off the third inning with a double and a walk, but Warren struck out the next two batters before forcing a pop-up that Ryan McMahon tracked all the way to the screen in foul territory behind third base.
The Yankees used McMahon’s catch as momentum in the third inning. After two sharp lineouts, Judge singled, García doubled, and Spencer Jones walked, loading the bases for Lombard. Sugano hung a slider over the middle of the plate, and Lombard devoured it for his first career grand slam.
Recall that Lombard also homered in his MLB debut. Add “becoming the second-youngest Yankee, and the youngest since Mantle, to hit a grand slam” to that list.
“It’s pretty cool,” Lombard said, honored to be mentioned alongside one of the franchise’s greatest figures. “It’s definitely a little different from the first home run. A grand slam is cool. It was a big swing to put us up in front and give us a good lead so we could win today.”
After Lombard’s home run, Sugano retired each of his next 10 batters before departing the mound. Juan Mejia replaced him in the seventh inning, and the Yankees got to him in the eighth. Bellinger homered, Judge singled again, and Spencer Jones laced his 12th double of the season.
In other news, the Yankees placed Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the 10-day injured list today with a right thumb sprain. He will be shut down from baseball activities for 7-10 days, but he hopes to return before the end of the regular season, as soon as the Yankees’ next homestand starts on September 22.
The Yankees recalled Anthony Volpe from Triple-A to replace Chisholm. Since being sent down in early August, Volpe has been playing second base. He already struggled plenty as a shortstop, so the Yankees are taking a serious gamble with this position change. But Volpe does have six home runs in his last 12 Triple-A games.
The Yankees enter tonight’s game aware that the Rays have already lost. Therefore, there are no excuses tonight. At 7:05 PM (6:05 PM CDT), the Yankees must find a way to sweep Colorado (YES, Gotham Sports).
LHP Max Fried (4-4, 2.73 ERA) will toe the slab for the Yankees tonight against the righty Ryan Feltner (5-9, 5.91 ERA).
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the New York Yankees:
DH Ben Rice (L)
LF Cody Bellinger (L)
RF Jasson Domínguez (S)
1B Luis García Jr. (L)
CF Spencer Jones (L)
SS George Lombard Jr. (R)
3B Ryan McMahon (L)
C Austin Wells (L)
2B Anthony Volpe (R)
SP: LHP Max Fried (4-4, 2.73 ERA)
Schedule
7:05 PM (6:05 PM CDT): NYY vs. COL; YES, Gotham Sports; SP: LHP Max Fried (4-4, 2.73 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Feltner (5-9, 5.91 ERA)
8:35 PM (7:35 PM CDT): NFL Melbourne Game (Week 1) – 49ers at Rams; NETFLIX
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Yankees
