About Last Night: Yanks Win 5-2
- Paul Semendinger
- May 21
- 3 min read
by Paul Semendinger
May 21, 2025
***
Last night the Yankees opened their home series against the Texas Rangers. They won the game 5-2 improving their record to 28-19. In the American league, only the Tigers have a better record than the Yankees.
Quick Stats:
WP - Will Warren
SV - Luke Weaver
Ben Rice, HR, 2 RBI
Aaron Judge, 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI... still batting over .400 (.403)
The Yankees' pitchers struck out 14 Rangers batters.
The Game Story:
Will Warren was terrific. He pitched into the 6th inning. He struck out a career high 10 batters. Through the first five innings, Warren never allowed more than one base runner in an inning. In the sixth, with the help of Mark Leiter, Jr., he (they) worked out of a bases loaded, one out situation.
The Yankees' bullpen, outside of Ian Hamilton who allowed two runs on a homer and then followed that by allowing a triple, was great. Devin Williams worked around a one out double in the eighth. He had two strikeouts.
The Yankees scored first on a Ben Rice homer into the second deck in the second inning. (Yankees 1, Rangers 0)
The Yanks scored again following hits by Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger followed by a Ben Rice sacrifice fly that could have been an extra base hit if not for a fine defensive play by Sam Haggerty in center field.
(Yankees 2, Rangers 0)
In the bottom of the sixth, Anthony Volpe doubled home Paul Goldschmidt who had walked.
(Yankees 3, Rangers 0)
In the bottom of the eighth, Trent Grisham singled and Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer.
(Yankees 5, Rangers 0)
As noted, the Rangers got two runs off Ian Hamilton on a homer by Jonah Heim.
(Yankees 5, Rangers 2)
Player of the Game:
Will Warren: 5.2 ip, 10 strikeouts, 5 hits, 1 walk, 0 runs
My Takes:
The Yankees are rolling. Things really seem to be falling into place. Since May 6, they are 9-3. That is terrific. They're playing good, high-quality baseball. This team has been fun to watch.
Aaron Judge hit his 16th home run of the season. It just went over the right field wall. It is being said that that was Judge's shortest homer of his career. They all count the same.
Aaron Judge now has 759 career runs batted in. That's good enough for 20th on the all-time list. He just knocked Roy White (758 rbi's) to 21st. Following his career, Roy White has now been passed on that list by Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Don Mattingly, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Paul O'Neill, Graig Nettles, Robinson Cano, Dave Winfield, and Aaron Judge.
With two hits, Aaron Judge, remarkably, is still batting over .400. Judge is on pace to accumulate 13.4 WAR this second. That total would be second all-time in Yankees' history. Babe Ruth had a 14.1 WAR season in 1923 and a 12.8 WAR season in 1921. We are watching greatness. This is proven night after night after night.
Will Warren last three games:
May 9: 7.1 innings, 1 earned run
May 14: 5 innings, 2 earned runs
May 20: 6.2 innings, 0 earned runs.
Will Warren is pitching better and better. He has answered the call and has been as solid as any starter on the team over his last three starts.
It's fun watching the Yankees win.
Next Up:
The Yankees play the Rangers again tonight. Ryan Yarbrough takes the hill at 7:05 p.m.
Well played game. Im holding back my Warren praise right now because Texas isnt hitting well against anyone.
With the Yankees allowing Warren to pitch how he did in Triple-A back in 2023, it seems that the Yankees now have 4 legit Starting Pitchers. That is very good! I still want to see Cam Schlittler make starts in Triple-A, not still in Double-A (he is scheduled to pitch tonight). Between Brubaker ($1.8 M salary) and Gil, I think for now the rotation is covered, but I still don't like Yarbrough in the rotation simply because that means they have NO long man, or even a middle inning reliever who can cover more than an inning on a regular basis.
Nice article! There really isn’t much left to say about Judge. History will say: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jeter and Judge! Heck throw Mariano in there too.