“The Heir” Leads the Way to Another Hard-Fought Road Win

by John Nielsen

August 20, 2026

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Opportunistic Yankees “Dodge A Bullet” then Small-Ball Their Way Past the O’s; The Bullpen Shines Again

Photo by MLB.com (Gameday)

It’s not often that a 21-year-old rookie shortstop has a calming, stabilizing effect on a pennant contender, but that is exactly the impact George Lombard Jr. — “The Heir” — is having on the 2026 New York Yankees.

New York (71–55) defeated the Baltimore Orioles (61–66), 5–3, Wednesday night at Camden Yards, with Lombard once again providing the kind of heady, polished, professional play that belies his age and limited major-league experience. The victory left the Yankees five games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East with 36 games remaining, as the Dog Days are about to give way to the Stretch Run.  

The Yankees enjoy the best road record in the American League at 40-28 and the second best road record overall (the Los Angeles Dodgers are 40-25). Notably, the Yankees have only 13 road games remaining, with 23 left at home. 

Despite consecutive ground-ball singles through the 3-4 hole by Trent Grisham and Ben Rice to begin the game, the Pinstripes failed to score in the first inning for the 17th consecutive time — the fourth-longest such streak in franchise history. The Orioles then drew first blood against Yankees starter Will Warren when Jackson Holliday scored on the back end of a double steal with Gunnar Henderson, giving Baltimore an early 1–0 lead.

The Yankees rallied to take the lead in the second when Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a walk, advanced to third on Spencer Jones’ single to right, and scored on a Ryan McMahon base hit that tied the game 1–1. Inexplicably, McMahon tried to stretch a rather routine single into a double and was thrown out on the bases for the third time in four games, injuring his left thumb in the process.

Enter The Heir.

With Jones perched at third and one out, Lombard did exactly what the situation demanded. He lofted a 1–1 sinker to the warning track, easily deep enough to score Jones and give the Yankees their first lead of the night.

How many times in 2026 have Yankee hitters failed to drive in a runner from third with fewer than two outs? Lombard, by contrast, did everything right: he didn’t try to do too much; he concentrated on making contact; rather than trying to pull the ball, he let the pitch travel deep, allowing him to square up the sinker and drive it with authority to the opposite field. He drove the ball at a 95.7 mph exit velocity and a 30-degree launch angle, sending it nearly out of the ballpark.

It was a textbook example of situational hitting: simple, disciplined and productive. The sacrifice fly put the Yankees ahead, 2–1.

Ben Rice helped the cause with his second hit of the night, launching a monstrous 447-foot home run to right field — his 34th of the season — in the third inning to give the Yankees a 3–1 lead. Baltimore answered in the bottom of the frame when Pete Alonso took Warren deep for his 29th home run of the season, cutting the Yankee advantage to 3–2.

With Warren spent after 90 pitches through four innings and two earned runs allowed, the Yankee bullpen was again called upon to pick up the slack. Tim Hill responded with 1⅓ scoreless innings before giving way to Fernando Cruz. The recently shaky Cruz, however, surrendered his fifth blown save of the season, when Dylan Beavers launched his fourth home run of the year to re-tie the game at 3–3.

The Yankees may have caught a break with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Alonso launched a towering moon shot over the left-field foul pole off Brent Headrick. Third-base umpire Will Little immediately and emphatically ruled the ball foul, but because it was hit so high, it was difficult to determine with certainty whether it had actually cleared the pole on the fair or foul side. 

The umpiring crew chief then initiated a replay review, seeking assistance from the Replay Command Center in New York.  Alonso, for his part, appeared convinced that Little had gotten the call wrong as he watched the replay along with the 26,453 in attendance.  After the review, the call ultimately stood – foul ball – although at least one camera angle appeared to suggest that the ball may have been fair.

In the end, it was just a long, loud strike. Having dodged Alonso's bullet, Headrick retired The Polar Bear two pitches later on a swinging strike three fastball to end the inning. For his efforts, Headrick, now 7-2, would be credited with the win.

Cam Sanders took the mound for Baltimore to begin the 8^th. With one out, Sanders hit Heliot Ramos (inexplicably hitting in the cleanup spot, despite coming into the game 3 for 39 as a Yankee – without a single run scored or run batted in – you can’t make this up!) with a 1-1 breaking pitch. Chisholm then walked. After Jones struck out, Jose Caballero pinch hit for the obviously hurting Ryan McMahon and he was grazed on the left arm by Sanders first pitch, loading the bases and sending Sanders (now 1-1) to the showers in favor of Yennier Cano to face GLJ.

Once again, The Heir delivered.

For the first time in his career, Lombard collected multiple hits in consecutive games while also recording his first multi-RBI game. This time, he did it with a swinging bunt down the third-base line, scoring — who else? — Ramos - without a throw to first! Simple contact, combined with some of the best straight-line speed in MLB, put the Yankees ahead for good, 4–3.

Moments later, Chisholm made it 5–3, racing home on a short wild pitch that never traveled more than about eight feet from the plate. A great secondary lead and an instinctive burst toward home, coupled with catcher Yohel Pozo’s split-second confusion in locating the ball, allowed Chisholm to seize the opportunity and give the Yankees a huge insurance run, sliding face-first across home plate beating Cano's tag.

Paul Blackburn followed with a scoreless eighth inning to earn his seventh hold, and closer David Bednar retired the Orioles in order in the ninth to secure his 29th save.

In all, the bullpen pitched 5.0 innings, allowing three hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out six. They've performed heroically in August.

Much has been made of the game-changing influence George Lombard Jr. has had with his glove in the two weeks since his promotion. It seems he delivers a highlight-reel defensive play every night. His defensive instincts, sure hands, range and cannon-like throwing arm have given the Yankees a marked defensive upgrade at shortstop since he was promoted from Triple-A on August 4. He simply makes plays that scores of previous Yankee shortstops could never dream of making. He takes away hits and turns them into outs. He saves runs. The comparisons to a young Derek Jeter — circa 1996 — are increasingly apt.

The eyes tell you this kid's glove is elite. So do the advanced stats.

Entering play Wednesday, Lombard had accumulated +8 DRS in just 109 innings, according to the August 19 Yankees/SIS reporting — a remarkable 7.34 DRS per 100 innings.

How extraordinary is +7.34 DRS per 100 innings?

It's enormous.

For context, on August 19, Caballero had +9 DRS in 528 innings, while Bobby Witt Jr. had +8 DRS in 907 innings. Lombard therefore had virtually the same raw DRS total as both players despite playing only about one-fifth as many innings as Caballero and one-eighth as many as Witt.

Obviously, it would be unreasonable to extrapolate Lombard's current rate over hundreds of additional innings. But the sheer magnitude of his defensive impact is difficult to ignore. If he maintained anything remotely close to this level over the next 400 innings, he would blow past Caballero's current +9 DRS.

And who’s to say the bat isn't going to be productive as well?

Yes, it's still a small sample size. But now 15 games and 44 at-bats into his major-league career, Lombard is slashing an eye-popping .318/.380/.857.

The glove has already announced his arrival. The bat may be starting to do the same. And have you seen him run the sacks? Baseball Savant has him at the 97^th percentile for sprint speed at 29.7 feet per second. The very definition of just over 3 seconds from home to first. Elite. Seventy-Five to eighty on an eighty scale.

The Yankees, having already secured the series, will look to complete the sweep of the Orioles on Thursday night, with Gerrit Cole (6-6, 3.22 ERA) set to take the mound for New York against Baltimore’s Kyle Bradish (7-11, 3.65 ERA). 

The Yankees will need Cole to work deep into Thursday night’s game. Otherwise, look for New York to rely on Yerry De Los Santos, Ryan Yarbrough, and Bradley Hanner to provide support out of the bullpen. Bednar, Headrick, Blackburn and Cruz have all pitched in tight victories on consecutive nights and are unlikely to be available until the weekend series against Toronto begins Friday night. Hill threw 16 pitches, Wednesday, so he might have 10-12 pitches for manager Aaron Boone on Thursday, in a pinch.

For a team that relies so heavily on pitching and defense, the McMahon injury, combined with Max Fried’s re-injury and placement back on the 15-day IL, is more than concerning. Hopefully, McMahon’s injury is not serious enough to require a trip to the IL of his own.