Six-Run sixth inning leads Yankees to 16th win in 19 Games
- Davis Cornell
- May 7
- 4 min read
The Yankees took down the Rangers 9-2 to win their sixth consecutive series. Paul Blackburn took the mound as the Yankees' opener and faced off against MacKenzie Gore.
Jasson Dominguez made a beautiful catch in left field for the first out of the game, but ran into the wall hard and was forced to leave the game. Blackburn walked two and hit a batter, but worked out of trouble thanks to J.C. Escarra gunning down a runner trying to steal.
In the bottom half of the first, Paul Goldschmidt led things off with a triple off the right-center wall. A couple of batters later, Cody Bellinger lined an RBI triple to right, to extend his hit streak to nine games, and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
“He's controlling the zone as good as I've seen him,” Aaron Boone said of Belli. “He's doing a really good job of zoning them up.”
Brendan Beck replaced Blackburn in the top of the second to make his MLB debut and worked a scoreless frame, picking up his first career strikeout.
Ryan McMahon, who originally had the day off but had to take over at third and move Amed Rosario to the outfield due to the Dominguez injury, lined a leadoff double to left. However, Trent Grisham flew out to left, Max Schuemann popped out in foul territory, and Escarra grounded out to first to end the second inning and strand McMahon.
With one out in the top of the third, Ezeqiuel Duran sent a solo shot into the seats in left field to even the score at 1-1.
Beck worked a scoreless fourth inning, then walked the No. 9 hitter to lead off the fifth, ending his day. Tim Hill took over and surndered a single to the first batter he faced, putting runners at the corners with nobody out. The next batter, Duran, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with an RBI fielder's choice, which could have been a hit, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a beautiful diving stop.
Hill remained in for the sixth and recorded the first two outs, then allowed a base hit. Brent Headrick came in relief and picked up the final out of the frame.
In the bottom of the inning, Belli worked a leadoff free pass, Rosario followed with a single to left, putting two aboard with nobody out. McMahon then worked a walk of his own to load the bases with one out. The next batter, Grisham, came through with a bases-clearing double in the left-center gap to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
“Just staying within myself and staying to my approach,” Grisham said of his bases-clearing double.
Escarra then dunked a two-out RBI bloop single to left, extending the Yankees' lead to 5-2. Judge kept the Yankees' two-out rally going with an RBI base knock ot left. Then Belli kept things going with an RBI single of his own to make it 7-2.
Headrick came back out for the seventh and worked a scoreless inning to keep the Yankees' lead at five runs.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Grisham singled to right, his third knock of the game, then stole second base. Max Schuemann then picked up his first hit as a Yankee in the form of an RBI double down the third base line to make it an 8-2 ballgame.
“Everybody feels pretty close; it's a tight-knit group,” Schuemann said. “Everybody is fighting for each other out there.”
Jake Bird got the call for the top of the eighth and navigated around a one-out walk, putting together a scoreless inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Belli led things off with a single to right center, his third knock and fourth time reaching base today. McMahon drove in Belli with an RBI single right back up the middle, his second hit and fourth time reaching base in the ballgame.
Camilo Doval was tasked with pitching the top of the ninth and worked a scoreless inning to secure the series victory for the Yankees.
The Yankees will start a new series tomorrow in Milwaukee against the Brewers. Max Fried will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against 24-year-old phenom Jacob Misiorowski. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:40 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Beck was decent in his MLB debut, tossing three innings, allowing two runs. The rest of the bullpen was great as Hill, Headrick, Bird, and Doval combined for five shutout innings with three strikeouts. This felt like a game the Yankees were due to lose, with Ryan Weathers getting scratched at the last second last night and Rice out for a fourth straight game, but the offense was awesome and picked them up. McMahon, who wasn't in the starting lineup today, originally came off the bench after Dominguez's gout hurt and reached base four times. Belli had a big game with three knocks and a couple of RBIs; he is now hitting .299 with a .924 OPS. Then Grisham, who has been extremely unlucky this year, finally got some luck to get his way with three hits and a huge bases-clearing double. Just a great day from the offense all around with 14 hits and nine runs, plus didn't hit any homer, which I love, it shows this offense can score in so many different ways. Aaron Boone just announced that Dominguez is going to the IL with a low-grade AC sprain in his shoulder. This could mean Spencer Jones gets called up. Jones has been tearing the cover off the baseball in Triple-A, hitting .258 with 11 home runs, 41 RBIs, with a .958 OPS, and a 143 wRC+. I know a lot of Yankees fans dont love Jones because of how much he strikes out, but Jones can mash. I’m from the same hometown as Jones and have watched him since he was in Little League, so I am extremely biased, but I think he could be a beast in the big leagues. On to tomorrow, as we will see who gets called up to replace Dominguez, I am really hoping it's Jones.
“He has a low-grade AC sprain in his left shoulder, which will put him on the IL,” Boonse said of Dominguez. “Could be a few weeks.”
“I'm a big fan of Spencer's,” McMahon said of Jones. “I think he's got a great attitude, goes about his work the right way. And I think you can do a lot of good things on a baseball field.”
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