About Last Night: Yanks 5, Angels 1

Andy Singer
1 day ago
4 min read

By Andy Singer

May 27th, 2025

The Big Story

Our Editor-In-Chief often discusses the inherent problem with West Coast games for an East Coast blogger: the time difference makes staying up late enough to catch the game a real problem on a week night. Luckily, the Yankees understood this writer's predicament and made sure that all critical events happened early in the game. Even better? The Yankees beat a team they should handle 9 times out of 10, making it worth my while to stay up to watch.

The Yankees were down early after Zach Neto tattooed a change-up that caught too much of the plate 440 feet over the centerfield wall. It was just a solo shot, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead after the 1st inning. I couldn't shake the feeling that the Yankees were heading for an annoying loss after the Neto homer, but the Yanks had other ideas.

After a quiet first 3 innings at the plate, the Yankees' bats woke up in the 4th inning. Angels pitcher Jack Kochanowicz leaned on his four-seamer and sinker to get outs throughout his outing, and it took the Yanks until the 4th inning to begin to figure it out. Ben Rice fouled a ball hard off of his foot early in his at-bat before lacing a lead-off single on a liner into the outfield. Trent Grisham followed with an even harder single off of the sinker, bringing Aaron Judge to the plate with 2 on and no outs. Judge ripped a line drive down the left field line. Third baseman, Yoan Moncada, did a fantastic job to get a glove on the ball to save a sure double and runs, but Judge reached with a single, loading the bases with no outs.

While Moncada's defensive save may have prevented runs, Kochanowicz didn't repay the favor, walking Bellinger on 4 pitches, all fastballs, as the game was tied at 1. Following a Jasson Dominguez in an at-bat where he also fouled a ball off of his foot before striking out, Anthony Volpe broke the game open. After two quick strikes, the Angels catcher wanted Kochanowicz to throw the ball way up and out of the zone. The 96 MPH fastball stayed in the upper 3rd of the strike zone, and Volpe smacked a bases-clearing double to deep right-center over the centerfielder's head, giving the Yanks a 4-1 lead that wouldn't be relinquished.

Austin Wells later added an insurance run with a sac fly in the 8th inning to give the Yankees a 5-1 win, but the game was won in the 4th inning. Ryan Yarbrough was flawless after allowing that first inning homer, as he continued to stabilize the 5th spot in the rotation with 6 innings of 1-run ball and 7(!) strikeouts. The bullpen covered 3 scoreless innings for an uneventful hold in the latter third of the game.

Players of the Game

I have to give the nod to two players in last night's game:

Anthony Volpe continues to prove that he's taken a step forward with his offensive game, and he got the job done last night with his 3-RBI double in the 4th inning. It was his only hit on a 1-4 night, but that was a big one.

The second Player of the Game was Ryan Yarbrough. Yarbrough chucked 6 innings of 1-run ball while allowing just 2 hits, 1 walk, and the soft-tosser struck out 7 batters. Yarbrough has been a revelation since moving into the rotation, and games like this further solidify his place.

Notable Performances

Cody Bellinger stayed hot with a 2-3 night, with 1 RBI walk.

Aaron Judge was 1-2 with 2 runs scored and 2 walks.

Ben Rice was 1-5, but was a key cog at the beginning of the 4th inning rally.

The Bullpen (De Los Santos, Leiter Jr., and Weaver) produced the following line: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K

Better to Forget

Peraza: 0-4, 3 K

Dominguez: 0-4

Yorbit Vivas: 0-3

Odds and Ends

Ben Rice fouled balls off of his foot twice, once in the 4th inning, and again leading off the 5th inning. Rice was pulled late in the game for defense, but I really hope his foot is okay. The Yanks need Rice producing at the top of the order.
Jasson Dominguez also fouled a ball hard off of his foot in the 4th inning and showed a touch of a limp after. Kochanowicz's sinker was clearly moving, but he didn't have good enough secondary pitches to keep it dominant throughout his outing.
Austin Wells keeps hitting the ball hard, but he seems off at the plate. I haven't dug deeper to see if it's swing decisions, mechanics, or something else, but he's not clicking yet.
I can't say enough about Ryan Yarbrough. I really liked watching him for the Rays a few years back, but I'd be lying if I said I expected him to stabilize the back of the Yankee rotation. His kitchen sink and command style really seems to work when he's on.