Will Warren Faces a Big Challenge in Game 2

Will Warren faced a significant challenge tonight. The Yankees were looking to stay hot, having won three games in a row. The Yankees lost this game, and Will Warren gave up a run that the Yankees could not afford. Will Warren may be raising questions about his reliability for the Yankees’ playoff starting pitching rotation.

He wants to start games for the Yankees in the playoffs, but he may end up in the bullpen. Time is growing short for Will Warren; he will probably make only one more start this season. Do you think Will Warren should be in the Yankees’ bullpen for the playoffs?

Lineups: As Will Warren Faced a Challenge

The Baltimore Orioles had Jackson Holiday leading off, and he was the second baseman. Jordan Westburg was the third baseman and batted second. Gunnar Henderson was the shortstop and batted third. Ryan Mountcastle was the designated hitter and batted fourth.  Dylan Beavers was the left fielder and batted fifth.

Jeremiah Jackson was the right fielder and batted sixth. Dylan Calson pinch-ran for him in the eighth inning. He stayed in to play right field in the ninth. Samuel Basallo was the catcher and batted seventh. Colton Cowser was the center fielder and batted eighth. Coby Mayo was the first baseman and batted ninth. For the Yankees, Paul Goldschmidt played first base and led off. In the eighth inning, Ben Rice pinch-hit for him and stayed in to play first base.

Aaron Judge was the right fielder and batted second. Cody Bellinger was the center fielder and batted third.  Giancarlo Stanton was the designated hitter and batted fourth. Ahmed Rosario was the third baseman and batted fifth. Austin Slater was the left fielder and batted sixth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was the second baseman and batted in the seventh spot. Anthony Volpe was the shortstop and batted eighth.  Austin Wells was the catcher and batted ninth. 

News and Notes

Max Fried’s great starting pitching last night has people abuzz and thinking he is all the way back. It turns out Fried, who had all of his pitches working, set a bunch of career highs with the stellar performance. He fired seven scoreless innings and matched his career high with 13 strikeouts in a 7-0 victory over the Orioles on Thursday evening at Camden Yards. He has now set career highs in wins (18), innings (188 1/3), and strikeouts (182) this season.

Who should win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, Aaron Judge, or Cal Raleigh? Judge would be a repeat winner, though all of the big boppers’ home runs will challenge him. American League Executives think Raleigh, by the narrowest of margins.The Yankees have nine games remaining, including tonight. All nine of the games are against the last-place Baltimore Orioles and the last-place Chicago White Sox. The playoff race is on.

Game Reaction

Will Warren gave up a second-inning home run, and the Yankees were behind. He may give up too many home runs to pitch at all for the Yankees in this postseason. That was the 24th home run he gave up this season. Both Judge and Stanton were in the lineup again tonight. This is the second game in a row that Judge played in right field, and Stanton was the designated hitter.

It is suitable for the Yankees that this is the case, and it leads fans to wonder if the Yankees have found a solution to their quandary, or if the lineup construction was the product of the cozy Yankee Stadium. Will Warren was removed with one out in the sixth inning, after having given up the Orioles’ second run. The quick hook was by virtue of the need for the Yankees to win this game. Shoddy defense and bad luck did him in.

Scoring Summary

In the second inning, Mountcastle hit a solo home run. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead. That was only his sixth home run of the year. In the sixth inning, Mountcastle hit a sacrifice fly and Westburg scored. The Orioles took a 2-0 lead. Then Basillo grounded out and Henderson scored. It was 3-0 Orioles.

In the seventh inning, Chisholm Jr. hit a two-run home run, and Slater scored. It was 3-2 Orioles. That was Chisholm Jr.’s 30th home run. With that home run, he becomes just the third Yankee (Alphonso Soriano and Bobby Bonds) to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases. In the seventh inning, Henderson doubled and Westburg scored. It was 4-2, Orioles. That was the final score of the game.

Conclusion

Will Warren probably did himself some damage tonight. He is running out of time. Will Warren faced a difficult pitching matchup tonight as he faced Trevor Rogers, who has outstanding statistics this season. Rodgers pitched well tonight. The Yankees play the third game of their four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow night at 7:10.