Judge walks it off as Yankees blank Rays 2-0
- Davis Cornell
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
The Yankees took down the Rays 2-0 in walkoff fashion to split the series after getting rained out yesterday. Ryan Weatherstook the mound for the Yankees and faced off against Drew Rasmussen.
“I think just kind of a combo of yesterday we get rained out, today weather's not great, and we just grind out a win,” Weathers said. “I think that was just a good team win. And obviously it ended with a bang, and it was just a cool win for all of us.”
In the top of the first inning, Weathers navigated around a two-out base knock, picking up a pair of strikeouts to help work a scoreless frame.
Aaron Judge lined a one-out single to left center in the bottom of the first to snap a 0-for-15 slide, but then made a bone-headed base running mistake, wandering too far off of first base on a Ben Rice lineout to right field, and was doubled up to end the inning.
With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. snuck a single through the right side of the infield. Jazz wasted no time swiping second base, his 13th stolen base of the season. However, José Caballero grounded out to strand Jazz in scoring position.
Weathers walked the No. 9 hitter, Carson Williams, to lead off the third inning, but immediately erased the walk as Weathers picked off Williams. Weathers then served up a pair of singles to put runners at the corners with one out. But induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.
Weathers worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning on just five pitches. In the top of the fifth inning, Weathers worked around a walk, putting together a scoreless frame.
Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single to right-center. Grisham did not advance to second on a pitch in the dirt that got well away from the catcher, then, because of that, Judge bounced into a double play.
In the top half of the seventh, Weathers retired the Rays in order with some help from a beautiful diving catch from Grisham in center.
Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Jazz went three up, three down in the bottom of the seventh as the Yankees now have just three runs over their last 34 innings.
Fernando Cruz replaced Weathers in the top of the eighth and tossed a scoreless frame with help from the defense. Aaron Judge made a spectacular diving grab, and Cody Bellinger followed with a heads-up throw to cut down a runner attempting to advance from first to third, recording the out just before the go-ahead run crossed the plate.
Final line for Weathers: Seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking three, and striking out four on 95 pitches. He threw the fastball 34% of the time, the sinker 21%, the sweeper 18%, the changeup 17%, and the slider 8%. Weathers topped out at 96.5 mph and averaged 94.7 on his heater, while producing five swings and misses.
“I think they have a really good lineup.” Weathers said. “I think that they have a really good lineup that doesn't swing and miss a ton. And I thought we did a good job of getting soft contact early.”
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan McMahon sent a single up the middle, but Austin Wells bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Tim Hill took over for Cruz in the top of the ninth and worked around a walk and a single, picking up a pair of strikeouts to work a scoreless frame. Goldy also made a great play on a bunt to first and fired to second base to gun down the runner.
In the bottom of the ninth, Grisham went from behind in the count 0-2 to working a leadoff walk. Judge then called game, launching a walk-off two-run bomb into the short porch to snap an 11-game homerless streak and give the Yankees a much-needed 2-0 win.
“There's nothing better,” Judge said. “I've been trying to get some going here. The guys in front of me have been having great at-bats, getting on base. So sometimes you've got to step up to the plate and finish it.”
The Yankees will now head to Kansas City to kick off a three-game series against the Royals. Will Warren will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against Michael Wacha. First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET on ESPN.
My thoughts on the game: What a win, boy, did the Yankees need that. Great start from Weathers today, completely shutting down the Rays in a game the Yankees desperately needed to win. Cruz had a scoreless outing with some help from a couple of great plays from the Yankees' defense. And Hill, after a rough outing on Friday night, worked a huge scoreless inning to set up the walk-off. Grisham had two more hits today, five hits for him in the series, as his season numbers are starting to slowly round into form. Jazz, McMahon and Belli all had hits. And of course Judge, had a pair of hits, including the walk-off bomb. The Yankees' offense really didn't do much today, getting shut out for eight innings, but did just enough, and the pitching was spectacular. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to make it two wins in a row against the Royals.
“We love the grind,” Judge said. “That's what it's about. You know, we love playing baseball. We love coming out here, showing up for the fans. I know it hasn't been what they've expected, but we're going to keep bringing it home for them every single night.”
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