About Last Night: Yankees Win, Comfortably?

By: Ethan Semendinger

July 28th, 2026

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The Yankees had an up-and-down game where at times it looked like a clear loss and clear win. Clearly, last night was not a clear game.

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Quick Stats -

• Winning Pitcher: Brent Headrick (6-1, 1.35 ERA)

• Losing Pitcher: Bryan Hudson (3-4, 3.00 ERA)

• Save: David Bednar (21)

• Home Runs (New York): Ali Sanchez (1)

• Home Runs (Chicago): N/A

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Story Of The Game - Let's talk about the Yankees offense and their lack of explosiveness recently. It feels like it's been forever since they've just had a barnburner and an easy victory for the pitchers.

The last victory that the Yankees had where they finished the game with a 5 (or more) run lead? That was on July 9th against the Tampa Bay Rays (in a 12-4 victory). Before that game, the last time this type of easy victory happened, occurred 4 times in one calendar week, between June 14th and June 19th:

• June 14th - Win over the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-3,

• June 16th - Win over the Chicago White Sox, 12-2,

• June 17th - Win over the Chicago White Sox, 10-5,

• June 19th - Win over the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0.

So, long story short, wins have not come easy for the Yankees over the past month and change. But, even with an offense that is sputtering, the Yankees keep finding wins. Not all at once- and there have been some truly miserable stretches- but enough wins amongst the struggles to keep themselves in serious playoff consideration.

So far, in the month of July, the Yankees have scored a combined 73 runs.

The Yankees have allowed 80 runs.

Yet, they have an 11-9 record (good for a .550 winning percentage).

In June, the Yankees scored 110 runs.

They gave up 117.

They had a 12-14 record (.462 WP%).

In 1-run games, the Yankees are 11-14 (.440 WP%).

In extra innings, the Yankees are 1-6 (.143 WP%).

Yes, they keep on winning. (And, the American League is such a disaster that a sub-.500 WP% team could make the playoffs as the last wild card.)

But, the Yankees are holding out a ton of hope that the pitching doesn't collapse. And, the later, and more stressful innings that get put onto the arms of the starters and bullpen, the more and more likely (as I see it) that things will fall apart.

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Thoughts From The Game -

The Good:

• The fourth inning was the type of baseball that the Yankees rarely ever show. On just 2 hits- and without a home run, or any errors- the Yankees were able to plate 4 runs. Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt worked inning-leading walks before Jasson Dominguez loaded the bases with a single. On an Anthony Volpe fielder's choice (moving runners to 2nd and 3rd), the Yankees began their scoring. Then, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a 2-RBI double to tie the game at 3. During the next at-bat, Jazz Chisholm Jr. stole third base ahead of a Jose Caballero walk, and a Spencer Jones fielder's choice brought in the fourth (and final) run of the inning. I like watching baseball like that.

• The eighth inning was also fun to watch. Back-to-back singles by Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe opened up a lot of options, so Jazz Chisholm Jr. went up and put down a perfect bunt to get on himself, during which a bad throw (and smart read) allowed Dominguez to score. After another Jazz Chisholm Jr. stolen base, and then some outs, Ali Sanchez delivered a 3-run home run (his FIRST career home run!) to give the Yankees a 5-run lead. (I promise you, I did not plan this, given my introduction to the post today.)

• The bullpen. After a short performance from the starter, the bullpen covered a lot of important innings and basically kept the White Sox quiet. Between the work of Angel Chivilli, Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, and Paul Blackburn the septet combined for 5 innings of work, allowing just 5 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run (earned), while collecting 3 strikeouts.

• Add in a late bullpen contributor: David Bednar. 1 batter, 1 strikeout, 1 save. Thanks for wrapping this one up!

• Final Notes on some Post-Game "Good" to "Great" Performances:

  • Ben Rice: 2-4, 1 Run, 1 RBI, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout

  • Paul Goldschmidt: 1-4, 1 Run, 1 Walk

  • Jasson Dominguez: 2-5, 2 Runs, 1 Strikeout

  • Jazz Chisholm Jr: 2-4, Double, 2 Runs, 2 RBI's, 2 Strikeouts

  • Ali Sanchez: 1-4, 3-Run Home Run, 1 Run, 3 RBI's, 2 Strikeouts

  • Angel Chivilli: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

  • Fernando Cruz: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

  • Brent Headrick: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Win

  • Paul Blackburn: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

  • David Bednar: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save

The Bad:

• The first inning was not good. Max Schuemann used and lost a challenge on the first at-bat of the game (may I ask why he, batting .220 on the season, was the lead-off hitter?), confirming a called strikeout. Then, the Yankees struck out two more times.

• The bad inning continued as the White Sox collected four hits (double, single, single, triple) to put up 3 runs against Max Fried. This included some defensive miscues (not errors) with Jazz Chisholm missing a throw to potentially steal an out on Munetaka Murakami who was attempting to get to third, the Yankees missing a chance to challenge on a potential out on Murakami after he came off the bag at third, and Max Schuemann mis-judging a flyball to left (which allowed the triple). He came out of that play limping...not good in the immediate aftermath of Cody Bellinger's injury.

• Max Fried lasted just 3 innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs (all earned) while collecting 4 strikeouts. I understand he's still coming back from injury, but 66 pitches in 3 innings (he was at 55 after 2) was not great.

• Camilo Doval, Jose Caballero, and Anthony Volpe in the ninth. What a disaster of an inning. Doval will get blamed, but Caballero's fielding error and Volpe's dropped final out had Doval needing to get six outs. Not that Doval looked great, but that inning was, not good. At all.

• And, worst of all, the game finished with a sub-5 run lead! So, the Yankees still have had only one "blowout" in July. (I learned that BaseballReference considers a win by 5 or more runs a "blowout" today in my research.)

• Final Notes on some Post-Game "Bad" Performances:

  • Max Schuemann: 0-5, 2 Strikeouts (as the lead-off hitter, which is an experiment we do not need to revisit)

  • Anthony Volpe: 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 Strikeout, 9th inning error

  • Jose Caballero: 0-3, 1 Walk, 1 Strikeout, 9th inning error

  • Max Fried: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 4 K

  • Tim Hill: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K

  • Camilo Doval: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 1 K

    
    

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Next Up - The Yankees will continue their 4-game weekend series on the road against the Chicago White Sox with a Tuesday night match-up. The White Sox will be sending Anthony Kay (7-4, 4.21 ERA) to the mound against the Yankees' Gerrit Cole (3-5, 3.92 ERA). The game will start at 7:40 PM and be broadcast locally on YES.