Judge and Grisham power Yankees to 11-10 walk-off thriller
- Davis Cornell
- Apr 13
- 4 min read
The Yankees took down the Angels 11-10 in walk-off fashion to snap their five-game losing streak in the game of the year. Aaron Judge and Mike Trout, a couple of three-time AL MVPs, put on a show tonight.
“He always puts a show on in New York, so that was fun to compete against him and that team,” Judge said of Trout. “And looking forward, we got another three tough games against him, and looking forward to more.”
Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Yusei Kikuchi.
Warren struck out the first batter of the ballgame, then went on to work a 1-2-3 first inning.
Goldy lined a lead-off double to left center. Judge followed with a two-run moon shot 456 feet into the left field pavilion, giving the Yankees an early 2-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the second, José Caballero crushed a two-run homer, his first of the year, to extend the Yankees' lead to 4-0.
Caballero couldn't come up with a Trout groundball to lead off the fourth inning, which would go on to lead to four unearned runs. Jorge Solar started the scoring for the Angels, lining a two-run double into the left field corner.
Then Joe Adell lined a two-out RBI single to left. A few batters later, Logan O’Hoppe would drive in Adell with an RBI single of his own, making it 4-3 and knocking Will Warren out of the game. Fernando Cruz would take over and walk Zach Neto with the bases loaded to even things at four apiece.
“That fourth inning didn't go our way, and they forced me to get my pitch count up,” Warren said. “And so I was pretty pissed leaving the yard, just because I knew I was in a good spot.”
Final line for Warren: 3.2 innings pitched, three hits allowed, four runs, none of them earned, one free pass, and six punchouts on 89 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 31% of the time, the sweeper 28%, the sinker 25%, the changeup 11%, and the curveball 4%. He topped out at 96.2 mph and sat 94.5 on his heater, finishing with 10 swings and misses tonight.
Tim Hill took over for Cruz in the fifth and navigated around a Solar single to put together a scoreless frame.
Giancarlo Stanton led off the bottom of the inning with a rocket double to left center, just missing a home run. Ben Rice followed by drawing a walk. Trent Grisham pinch-hit for Randal Grichuk and crushed a three-run bomb, first of the year, giving the Yankees a 7-4 lead.
“Any big moment, any time something like that is going on, I want him at the plate,” Judge said of Grisham.
In the top half of the sixth, the Angels would respond, as Hill allowed a two-out base knock to end his outing. Jake Bird replaced Hill and allowed a single, then Trout crushed a three-run home run to knot the ballgame up at 7-7.
In the bottom half of the frame, Shaun Anderson threw up and in on Judge for the second time in the game, and Judge stared him down. A few pitches later, Judge responded with a solo shot, his second of the night and sixth of the year, giving the Yankees the lead right back.
Bird came back out for the seventh and picked up the first out, allowing a single and a double, followed by a game-tying sacrifice fly from Josh Lowe. Camilo Doval came in relief for Bird and picked up the third out, stranding the go-ahead run at third.
Doval remained in for the eighth and surrendered a go-ahead two-run bomb to Trout, his second of the night, giving the Angels their first lead of the night, 10-8.
Paul Blackburn was tasked with keeping the Yankees' deficit at two in the top of the ninth and just that, working a 1-2-3 inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off with a single to right field. Grisham followed with a two-run no doubt shot, his second home run of the night, to even the ballgame at 10-10.
“It's a big at-bat. Just heightened senses, heightened everything,” Grisham said. “When you're having success like that, nothing is really going through your mind.”
Caballero then doubled down the third base line, then stole third before storming home on a walk-off wild pitch to snap the Yankees' five-game skid.
“Just great plays all around. Great at-bats, but Trent Grisham's a player of the game here,” Judge said. “You know, coming up big with some huge homers to give us a lead and then tie the game there in the ninth. So it was impressive to watch.”
The Yankees will try to make it two in a row tomorrow with Ryan Weathers on the bump, facing off against Reid Detmers. The first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: What a win! That's the kind of win that can get a team going. Warren was decent tonight, didn't give the Yankees enough length, and that could very well come back to bite them later in this series. Caballero also didn't do him any favors, but made up for it with his bat. The bullpen also wasn't great; aside from Blackburn, he was really good. Judge had a huge game, and all of a sudden, his season numbers look much better with a .883 OPS. Grisham had a huge night off the bench with two homers and five RBIs. Hopefully, that gets him going and starts looking like last year's version of Grisham. The entire offense was so unbelievable tonight, putting together 14 hits and 11 runs. What a game, huge win, on to tomorrow.
“Those are the fun ones,” Judge said. “You know, you're going back and forth. They got a great team over there. They were hitting the ball over the field. Great pitching staff. But we're happy to come away with the win and all these fans sticking around to see it.”
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