The Yankees got some good vibes rolling on Monday night.
The Bombers opened up a three-game series against the red-hot Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium with a wire-to-wire 6-2 victory, mashing four homers behind another strong pitching performance from Will Warren.
Warren tossed 6.2 innings allowing two runs on three hits — two solo homers — while striking out seven. The right-hander gave the Yanks much-needed length as he was the first pitcher to complete six innings since he did it on July 30 against the Texas Rangers.
The 26-year-old even saw an increase in velocity as he topped out at 97.1 MPH and sat at 94.1 — 1.1 mph above his season average. Warren’s season ERA is down to 4.34.
Warren has put together a stretch of four straight starts where he’s gone at least five innings and given up two runs or less. Monday’s performance was his second-longest outing of the season — he went 7.1 innings on May 9 against the A’s.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are seeing one of their veterans still has plenty left in the tank. Monday’s right-fielder, Giancarlo Stanton, mashed his 11th homer of the season in the third inning — with the club leading 1-0 thanks to a solo shot from Cody Bellinger in the first — to deep right-center field. Stanton was 2-for-5 on the night as his season slash line is imposing at .281/.362/.548.
The 35-year-old also played a clean right field, making all the routine plays at him and even showed off some… speed taking an extra base in the first inning on an error by Byron Buxton.
Stanton has been incredibly effective for the Yanks since returning and should expect to play more right field with Aaron Judge (elbow) limited to DH duties to keep his bat in the lineup.
Ben Rice followed up Stanton’s shot with a solo bomb of his own in the third inning to go back-to-back. Rice, the catcher, has seen more time behind the plate due to the struggling Austin Wells — and the necessity of his bat in the lineup.
Rice, one of the hardest hitters in baseball, is slashing .235/.326/.463 with now 17 homers on the season and 38 RBI.
The Yanks added some insurance in the bottom of the seventh after Warren surrendered a solo shot to Trevor Larnach, cutting the lead to 3-2. Ryan McMahon led off the inning with a double down the right-field line and later scored on an RBI-single from Trent Grisham. Judge added an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a solo shot in the eighth, delivering the exclamation point on a 10-hit night for the club.
Luke Weaver relieved Warren in the seventh and pitched a 1.1 scoreless innings before handing off the ball to David Bednar for the close. Bednar set the Twins down the order securing the victory.
Aaron Boone will turn to Carlos Rodon on Tuesday to secure the series victory. The Twins have yet to announce their starter.
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