Bombs, Bullpen & Blockbusters: Yankees win as Cashman strikes big

New York—The Yankees were able to pull off a 7-4 win on trade deadline day against the Rays. And during a two-hour and 40-minute rain delay, Cashman pulled off a couple of huge trades. Marcus Stroman got the start for the Yankees and faced off against Ryan Pepiot.

In the top of the first inning, Stroman worked around a two-out hit by pitch and picked up a strikeout to put together a scoreless frame. 

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Paul Goldschmidt was gifted a double as Rays shortstop Talor Walls lost a ball in the sun. Cody Bellinger followed that up with an RBI single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Giancarlo Stanton, launched a 432-foot two-run bomb to his eighth of the season to make it 3-0 Yankees. 

Stroman worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the second inning and picked up his second strikeout of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Ryan McMahon and Anthony Volpe worked back-to-back one-out walks. The next batter, Ben Rice, crushed a three-run home run into the Yankees' bullpen, his 16th of the year to make it a 6-0 game. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the third inning. Jasson Dominguez followed that up with a single to right field, allowing Jazz to go first to third. The newest Yankee, Austin Slater, followed that up with an RBI fielder's choice to make it a 7-0 game. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Jonathan Aranda picked up an RBI single to make it a 7-1 game. Junior Caminero followed that up with a sacrifice fly to make it a 7-2 game. Jonny DeLuca then came through with a two-out RBI single to put the Rays right back in this game, making it a 7-3 game. Walls followed that up with an RBI double to make it a 7-4 game. 

Stroman worked around a one-out single in the top of the fifth inning thanks to a 4-6-3 double play to make this game official. With the rain and weather forecast in the Bronx today, that is huge. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Stanton legged out a rare infield single for him, but collided with Aranda at first base in the process, forcing Aranda to come out of the game. Then, after the Rays catcher Nick Fortes couldn't handle a couple of pitches due to the rain, they finally sent this game into a weather delay. After a two-hour and 40-minute rain delay, they, for whatever reason, resumed play instead of calling the game. Slater grounded into a double play to end the threat. 

Yerry De los Santos took over for Stroman in the top of the sixth inning and retired the Rays in order and picked up a strikeout. 

Marcus Stromans' final line: five innings pitched, six hits allowed, four earned runs, seven swings and misses, and three strikeouts on 74 pitches. Stroman threw his sinker 35% of the time, the cutter 20%, the splitter 20%, the slurve 11%, the slider 5%, the fastball 4%, and the curveball 4% of the time. Stroman looked good for the first three innings today, but unfortunately, he did not have it in the fourth inning, giving up four runs. 

"No, nothing to do with conditions," Stroman said. "I think I just, you know, I think they started swinging early, and I just was in the zone a little too much that inning. I felt really good up until then, but was able to kind of regroup in the fifth there and give us a chance to win." 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, McMahon led things off with a line drive single to left field. However, that would be all for the Yankees in the sixth. 

De Los Santos remained in the game for the top of the seventh and struck out the side in order. 

De Los Santos came back out for the top of the eighth inning and worked another 1-2-3 inning.

The Yankees went down in order in the bottom half of the eighth inning.

With the Yankees' bullpen thin today after an 11-inning game last night, they turned to Jonathan Loáisiga in the top of the ninth inning. And worked around a leadoff double to put together a scoreless inning to pick up the save, end this one 7-4 final, and give the Yankees the series win. 

The Yankees will now head to Miami to start a three-game series with the Marlins. Carlos Rodon will get the starting nod for the Yankees, and the Marlins starter is still TBD. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Cashman had an unbelievable deadline. I’m not going to lie, I was not the biggest fan of what he had done until today. Today, he acquired four different players, including three quality relievers in Jake Bird, David Bednar, and Camilo Doval, as well as shipped Oswald Peraza to the Angels for a bucket of baseballs. He also acquired a new backup shortstop from the Rays, Jose Caballero. Now for the game, Stroman wasn't great, but thankfully, Luis Gil is coming back on Sunday, so I am really hoping this was Stroman's last start as a Yankee, but I wouldn't count on it. Stanton launched a two-run home run, and Rice also crushed a three-run home run of his own. Slater went 0 for 4 in his Yankee debut but did pick up his first RBI as a Yankee. Belli also stayed hot at the plate with an RBI single. And with the bullpen taxed after last night, De Los Santos stepped up big, throwing three dominant shutout innings, but with all the new acquisitions in the bullpen, unfortunately for De Los Santos, he will probably be rewarded with a first-class ticket back to Scranton. Loáisiga also looked solid and picked up the save. On to tomorrow, I'm really excited to see what this new and improved bullpen can do. 

"I think we definitely got better today,” Devin Williams said. “I think they're three incredible pitchers. I played with two of them in the past. I know they'll fit right in with this clubhouse, and I'm excited to work with those guys again."

Caballero, who grew up a Yankees and Derek Jeter fan, talked about joining the Yankees: 

"Now you've got to give your best and hopefully bring a championship to this city,” Caballero said. “Something that I'm sure the fans have been expecting for a long time."