Yankees sweep the Cardinals behind a late surge and Goldy’s big return

St. Louis —The Yankees took down the Cardinals 8-4 to complete their first sweep since July 8 to 10 against the Mariners. Will Warren got the start for the Yankees and faced off against Miles Mikolas.

Ben Rice worked a one-out walk in the top of the first inning, but that would be all for the Yankees as Aaron Judge flew out to the warning track in right field and Cody Bellinger flew out just in front of the warning track in center to strand Rice. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Warren worked around a leadoff single and recorded his first strikeout of the ballgame to put together a scoreless frame. 

Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a leadoff walk in the top of the second inning, then swiped second base, his 20th stolen base of the season. However, Paul Goldschmidt, who received a big standing ovation in his return to St. Louis, lined out, Jasson Dominguez flew out, and Ryan McMahon grounded out to strand Jazz at second. 

"Yeah, these fans are amazing here, and you know, I'm so thankful for them and the support they show me, not just today, but for every time I was here," Goldy said. "You know, these fans are great. They love the Cardinals. They love their players and very similar to the Yankees fans. So two great places to play."

In the bottom of the third inning, Warren gave up a couple of singles, but picked up his second punchout of the game as well as a flyout to work into and out of trouble. 

Jazz worked a one-out walk in the top of the fourth inning, Goldy Knocks followed that up with a double off the wall to put two runners in scoring position. The next batter, Jasson Dominguez, legged out an RBI infield single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Ryan McMahon tacked on another run with an RBI single, allowing Dominguez to go first to third and make it a 2-0 game. José Caballero added on another run with an RBI single through the vacated right side of the infield, making it a 3-0 game.

Grisham then struck out looking on a pitch well inside, leading to Yankees catching coach Tanner Swanson getting his first career ejection. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Cardinals quickly responded with a two-out, two-run double from Thomas Saggese to make it a 3-2 game. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cardinals tied the game up at 3-3 with an RBI single by Alec Burleson.  Devin Williams replaced Warren with two outs and a runner on third base and picked up a big strikeout to keep it a tie ballgame. 

Will Warren's final line: 4.2 innings pitched, seven hits allowed, three runs allowed, just one earned run due to a costly error from McMahon, five swings and misses, and three strikeouts on 95 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 42% of the time, the sinker 36%, the sweeper 17%, the curveball 4%, and the changeup just 1% of the time. Warren didn't have his best stuff today, as his command just looked off all day and relied way too much on his fastball and sinker. 

"Yeah, I mean, I feel like you know they were applying some pressure," Warren said on what was working for him in the first three innings. "But you know we were able to lean heavily on our strengths and execute pitches to get out of it."

Camilo Doval replaced Williams in the bottom of the sixth inning and immediately served up a solo home run on a hanging slider to Yohel Pozo to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. 

In the top of the seventh inning, Grisham worked a walk thanks to a generous call, leading to Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol being ejected. A couple of batters later, Judge dunked in a bloop single to right field, allowing Grisham to go first to third and put runners on the corners with one out. Belli tied the game up at 4-4 thanks to a sacrifice fly. 

Doval remained in the game for the bottom of the seventh and picked up the first out of the frame, then was replaced by Tim Hill. Hill picked up the final two outs to keep it a tie game.

Hill remained in the game and picked up the first out of the bottom of the eighth, then Luke Weaver took over for him on the bump. Weaver picked up a strikeout and a groundout to keep it a tie ballgame heading to the ninth inning. 

Caballero reached second base to lead off the top of the ninth inning thanks to an E4. Caballero then moved up to third thanks to a passed ball. A couple of batters later, the pinch-hitting Giancorlo Stanton worked a walk to put runners on the corners with one out for Judge. Judge was intentionally walked to load the bases for Belli, and he reached on an E4, allowing two runs to score, giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead. Another run came across to score thanks to an RBI fielder's choice from Jazz to make it a 7-4 game. Goldy Knocks then came through with an RBI double to make it an 8-4 game, his third knock of the ballgame. 

Weaver remained in the game for the bottom of the ninth inning and worked an easy 1-2-3 inning to end this one 8-4 and complete the sweep for the Yankees. 

"Yeah, it was a great job. I mean, it's really a great team win today and this whole weekend," Goldy said. "And that's what it's going to take. But Weaver going back out there, getting three quick outs, saving our bullpen. Just a really good team win." 

The Yankees will now head to Tampa with an off-day tomorrow, then start a quick two-game set against the Rays. Carlos Rodon will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against Shane Baz. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Great series for the Yankees. I would have liked it to be a little less stressful, but I will never complain about a sweep. With the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Guardians all losing today, the Yankees picked up a game on all three of them. The Yankees are now just a half-game back from the Red Sox and a game back from the Mariners for that top Wild Card spot and 3.5 games up on the Guardians. Warren was decent today; it just looked like he didn't have his best command. Doval served up a home run, as he has now given up a run in four of his eight outings since joining the Yankees—Hill, Weaver, and Williams combined for three shutout innings. Goldy Knocks had a big day in his return to St. Louis, where he spent six seasons and won the 2022 NL MVP, as he came through with three hits and an RBI. Caballero also had a good game with an RBI single as he went 5-for-11 this series and looked great at shortstop, giving Volpe his first day off in 47 games. Jazz didn't have any hits today but reached base three times, had two stolen bases, and scored a couple of runs. Just a great game all around for the most part, on to Tuesday.

"At this point, I'm just trying to help the team," Caballero said. "I might have something in my back pocket, but you're going to see it later on. I'm trying to just help the teams as much as I can right now."