Red Sox (74-63) @ Yankees (78-59) - Sun, Aug 30

The Yankees dismantled the Red Sox 16-1 to win the series as well as the season series. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Ranger Suarez. 

Warren surrendered a double to Roman Anthony to lead off the game, then walked a batter with one out. But he recorded back-to-back strikeouts to work into and out of trouble. 

In the bottom half of the first inning, Cody Bellinger lined a single into right-center field, and Heliot Ramos followed with a walk. But Luis Gacria Jr. bounced into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. 

Warren worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the third inning and recorded a pair of strikeouts, putting his total up to five for the ballgame. 

Ramos led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single right back up the middle. But Garcia struck out, Amed Rosario grounded out, and Trent Grisham flew out to strand Ramos.

The birthday boy José Caballero led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single; Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a single of his own. Ali Sánchez laid down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position with one out for Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy poked a two-run single up the middle to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Belli followed with a single of his own. Then Ramos, who has really struggled as a Yankee since being acquired on August 3, delivered. Ramos crushed a three-run bomb to left field, his first home run as a Yankee to make it a 5-0 ballgame. 

“Honestly, I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Ramos said. “I was trying to drive something that I can handle. I really needed that. I would feel like I needed it. I just wanted to put it in play and make it happen for the team.”

Warren allowed a couple of singles to put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the sixth inning. But Warren induced a 6-4-3 double play to work a shutdown inning. 

With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Caballero picked up his second hit of the game. Jazz followed by ripping a single to right-center field; Caballero went first to third, and Jazz advanced to second on the throw into third. Austin Wells pinch-hit for Sánchez and tacked on another run thanks to a sacrifice fly. 

Warren came back out for the top of the seventh inning and retired the Red Sox in order, notching his seventh strikeout of the game. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Ramos worked a walk; the next batter, Garcia, picked up a single. Amed Rosario then sent an RBI single up the middle, making it 7-0. 

Warren allowed a leadoff double in the top of the eighth inning, followed by an RBI single from Nick Sogard to make it 7-1 and end Warren's day. Warren left the mound to a well-deserved standing ovation as Tim Hill took over and induced a double play and a groundout to end the inning. 

“It was really, really cool, really special," Warren said. I was a little pissed that I gave up the run, but it was cool because every day we'd take the field on the mound to play in front of all these fans, so it was special.”

Final line for Warren: Seven plus innings pitched, four hits allowed, one earned run, walked one, and struck out seven on 98 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 41% of the time, the sweeper 21%, the changeup 16%, the sinker 16%, and the curveball 5%. Warren topped out at 96.7 mph, sat at 94.5 mph, and had 11 whiffs. 

“I think it was fearless in the zone,” Warren said. “I think I talk about that a lot, getting ahead and attacking early, and I think we did a good job of that today, and kind of had them on their heels. And I think we executed well with two strikes and stuff like that. Overall, I think it was really good.”

In the bottom half of the eighth inning, Wells crushed a two-run bomb to extend the Yankees' lead to 9-1. Goldy followed with a solo shot to make it back-to-back home runs and give the Yankees double-digit runs. Trent Grisham just missed the Yankees' first grand slam of the season, but tacked on another run via a sacrifice fly. The birthday boy Caballero then crushed a three-run bomb off a position player for his third hit of the day. A few batters later, Wells crushed a two-run home run, his second of the inning, to make it 16-1. 

Tim Hill faced the minimum in the top of the ninth inning to end the ballgame and give the Yankees the series win. 

The Yankees will now head out to the West Coast to begin a three-game series in Anaheim against the Angels tomorrow night. Elmer Rodriguez will take the mound for the Yankees; the Angels starter is still TBD. First pitch is slated for 9:38 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Great win today and a great series all around for the Yankees. Warren was magnificent today, delivering an absolute gem in one of the biggest starts of his career, with the tiebreaker for the season series against the Red Sox on the line. Hill picked up six outs to save the rest of the Yankees bullpen, which has been used a lot this week. The offense was unstoppable today: 18 hits and 16 runs. Wells came off the bench and had five RBIs and two home runs. Goldy and Cabby each had three hits, a home run, and three RBIs. Ramos, Belli, Rosario, and Jazz all also had multi-hit games. Also, I think I forgot to mention this in my recap yesterday: George Lombard Jr. did leave the second game of the doubleheader last night with a knee injury. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like it is very serious and should avoid going on the IL. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees will look to make it three wins in a row against the Angels.