Warren shines, Bombers bash four homers in series-opening win

New York—The Yankees took down the Twins 6-2 in game one of this series, the first time they have won game one of a series since the All-Star break. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Zebby Matthews.

Warren retired the Twins in order on just 12 pitches in the top of the first inning and recorded his first two strikeouts of the ballgame. Warren ended the frame with a 97.1 mph sinker, the hardest pitch he has thrown in his Major League career. 

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Cody Bellinger launched a solo home run to right field, his 21st of the year, to quickly give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

"Understand what's at stake and what's been going on...it's always nice when the results show," Belli said.

In the top of the second inning, Warren struck out the side in order to quickly put his strikeout total up to five for the ballgame. 

Giancarlo Stanton launched a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning, his 11th of the season, to make it a 2-0 game.

The next batter, Ben Rice, launched his 17th home run of the year to make it back-to-back jacks and make it a 3-0 ballgame. 

"Same approach as always, just look for a pitch to hit and try to do damage," Rice said on his approach following Stanton's home run.”

In the top of the fifth inning, Warren worked an easy 1-2-3 inning on just 10 pitches, as he has now retired nine straight Twins hitters. 

Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Belli went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Byron Buxton crushed a solo home run to break up a streak of 11 straight retired by Warren and make it a 3-1 game. Warren recorded his seventh punchout of the ballgame to end the frame and become the first Yankees starter to complete six innings since he did it on July 30. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth inning to knock Matthews out of the game. Jazz immediately stole second base; however, Paul Goldschmidt struck out looking to strand Jazz in scoring position. 

Trevor Larnach launched a two-out solo home run to right field on a hanging sweeper from Warren to make it a 3-2 game and knock Warren out of the game. Luke Weaver replaced Warren and picked up the final out of the top of the seventh inning. 

Will Warren's final line: 6.2 innings pitched, three hits allowed, two earned runs, zero walks, 11 swings and misses, and seven strikeouts on 85 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 33% of the time, the sinker 32%, the sweeper 25%, the curveball 6%, and the changeup 5% of the time. Warren was excellent tonight, besides two mistakes, which both ended up being solo home runs. But he did a great job working quickly and efficiently. 

"Just being aggressive in the zone, and just executing our game plan," Warren said.

“Just aggressive in the zone," Rice, who was behind the plate tonight, said about Warren's start. "He's got such good stuff. And what made him really good tonight was just trusting that stuff in the zone, mixing his fastballs, mixing his breaking stuff for strikes. So he was awesome." 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ryan McMahon led things off with a rocket double, 110.6 mph off the bat into the right field corner. McMahon then moved up to third on a wild pitch, and Anthony Volpe worked a walk to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Grisham followed that up with an RBI single to make it a 4-2 game, and Volpe went first to third on a hit-and-run. Judge then picked up an RBI single of his own to make it a 5-2 game. 

Weaver remained in the game for the top of the eighth inning and retired the Twins in order, picking up a pair of strikeouts in the process. 

"I mean, his stuff is always so good," Rice said about Weaver. "I feel like the thing that sticks out with him, too, is that he's got really good command. I think that's the underrated part of his game. So watching him go out there and do that with special." 

Jazz launched a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning for his 20th of the year to make it a 6-2 game. 

Devid Bednar was called upon to pitch the top of the ninth inning and retired the Twins in order with a couple of strikeouts to end this one 6-2. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Carlos Rodon on the mound; the Twins starter is still TBD. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Warren was dominant tonight from start to finish, giving the Yankees some much-needed length. The Yankees also had what seemed like their first stress-free win in quite some time, which was nice for a change. With Jazz launching his 20th home run of the season, the Yankees now have four hitters with 20-plus homers this season(Jazz, Judge, Grisham, and Belli). Joining the A’s, who also have four guys with 20-plus tied for the most in the MLB. Belli, Stanton, and Rice all had solo home runs tonight as well. Weaver and Bednar then shut the door with 2.1 shutout innings. The Yanks now have a golden opportunity to win the series tomorrow.