About Last Night: Yankees 2, Cardinals 0

About Last Night: Yankees 2, Cardinals 0

By Derek McAdam

August 5, 2026

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The New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals last night by a score of 2-0 to improve to 64-50 on the season. Here’s a quick recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Ryan Weathers (5-7): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K

                     L: Hunter Dobbins (2-2): 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

                     S: David Bednar (25): 1.1 IP, 3 K

HRs: NYY: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (17), George Lombard Jr. (1)

Big Story: The Yankees were coming off a heartbreaking loss Monday night in which they trailed 6-0, then scored seven unanswered runs to take the lead, before the Cardinals then scored seven unanswered to win 13-7. Following the game, the Yankees made several transactions, one being the Yankee debut of Heliot Ramos, who was acquired at the Trade Deadline from the San Francisco Giants. And Lombard, the Yankees’ no. 1 prospect, was also making his MLB debut.

After Cam Schlittler got rocked on Monday night, the Yankees turned to Ryan Weathers in hopes of giving the bullpen some rest and tying the series up to force a rubber game tonight.

In the 2nd, Lombard has his first defensive opportunity at the major league level, in which he successfully started a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. And in the bottom of the inning, Chisholm hit a high-towering shot into the right field seats to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

In his first career MLB at-bat, Lombard nearly beat out an infield groundout, but was beat to the bag by a half-step. And over the next couple of innings, Lombard had a couple of groundballs hit his way in the field, both of which were handled with no problems.

The Yankees threatened in the 4th with a leadoff walk to Ben Rice and a single from Luis Garcia Jr. to put runners at the corners with no one out. Ramos then hit into a fielder’s choice, in which the third baseman threw home to get Rice out. Spencer Jones then hit into a fielder’s choice before Chisholm stuck out to end the inning.

In the 5th, with a runner on first and one out, Lombard turned another double play, this time taking it to second himself before firing on to first for the third out. And in the bottom of the inning, Lombard hit a solo home run into the left field seats for his first MLB hit. He became the 14th Yankee to hit a home run in his MLB debut.

The Cardinals had their first scoring opportunity in the 6th with runners at the corners and two outs for Jose Fermin, who smoked a line drive straight to Ramos in left field for the third out.

In the 7th, Fernando Cruz came on to replace Weathers, who delivered six shutout innings for the Yankees. Cruz gave up a leadoff double to Nelson Velasquez, but got two outs before Aaron Boone turned to Brent Headrick to get the final out of the inning, and possibly more. On the first pitch of Headrick’s appearance, Nathan Church grounded out to first base to end the inning, keeping the Cardinals scoreless.

Dobbins was also removed after 6.1 IP, to which he only made two crucial mistakes during his appearance: the solo home runs.

The Cardinals were threatening in the 8th following a leadoff single and a walk with no outs for JJ Wetherholt, After Wetherholt grounded out to advance the runners, Headrick struck out Ivan Herrera for the second out, but Boone decided to pivot to Bednar for the four-out save. Alec Burleson, fresh off a three home-run game Monday night, was intentionally walked to load the bases for Velasquez, who struck out to leave the bases loaded.

Bednar then came back on in the 9th and delivered a 1-2-3 inning for the Yankees win.

Player of the Game: No doubt this goes to Lombard, who delivered a stellar performance offensively and defensively in his MLB debut.

Notable Performances: The entire Yankee pitching staff did a fine job keeping the Cardinals off the board and Chisholm also gave the Yankees their ultimate “game-winning” run. Dobbins and Caleb Ferguson also pitched well for the Cardinals.

Better to Forget: The Cardinals’ offense is probably kicking themselves after scoring a baker’s dozen worth of runs on Monday and then coming out with none last night.

My Take: Well, the Lombard Show has officially arrived in the Bronx, and what a debut it was for the 21-year-old. Not only did the youngster make several nice plays at shortstop, but he also added his first MLB hit in front of his parents. Not only that, but his younger brother made his professional baseball debut last night, and also homered in his first at-bat, too. It was a great night for the entire Lombard family, and hopefully, this is just the beginning.

While Lombard took a lot of the attention, Weathers delivered a very nice performance for the Yankees. Schlittler went only three innings Monday and the Yankees ended up using numerous relievers. They also have not had an off-day in more than a week and the bullpen was taxed, so Weathers came in and delivered six strong innings for the Yankees. His last few starts have been solid, but he has not been able to get great run support in several of his starts this season.

This was a relatively quick game that finished right around 9:30, which are games that I enjoy watching. I’ve never been a fan of games that run long, unless they are in the post-season where the stakes matter more. And the game was flying right up until Weathers’ 6th inning that took a little longer with the extended pitches he threw.

Offensively, both teams had several chances to capitalize, but the pitching was the star of the show for both teams. Since the game went quickly, I didn’t mind a pitcher’s duel, even though I typically like to see high-scoring games, like Monday night’s game.

The Yankees needed this win, and they got it. Now, they are set to go for yet another series win before they can finally enjoy an off-day tomorrow before they face another National League opponent this weekend. There isn’t much I have to say. But I will quote the late John Sterling and say, “BALL GAME OVER, YANKEES WIN! THEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN!”

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What’s Next?: These two teams will face off in a rubber game tonight at Yankee Stadium. Andre Pallante is set to start for the Cardinals, while Will Warren will take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Yankee Stadium and will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.