Here was something rare: legitimate, hard contact against Will Warren. Leody Taveras smoked a fastball that bore across the plate and sent it right back up the middle.
By the end of his delivery, Warren was facing first base. By the time Taveras’ 101.5 mph grounded dart blitzed its way to the mound, Warren was facing second.
“I just stood there and hoped it missed me, and it didn’t,” said Warren, who was blinded to the ball, raised his left foot and knocked it down with the bottom of the cleat, then scrambled to record the final out of the top of the second.
Warren is smothering batted balls, opposing lineups and perhaps questions about his status in the rotation.
The young right-hander was brilliant again, allowing one earned run while pitching into the seventh inning, and strengthened his case that he belongs among the Yankees starting pitchers as his club sailed, 7-2, over the Orioles in front of 41,239 in The Bronx on Friday night.
“You say he’s the guy we haven’t talked about,” manager Aaron Boone said with a smile about an overlooked part of a starry rotation. “The body of work, just from jump in spring training, has just been excellent over and over again.”
The Yankees (21-11) have the AL’s best record and have won 11 of 13, playing well in every phase of the game.
Ben Rice clubbed home run No. 11, a three-run shot in the second that drained much of the drama from the proceedings. José Caballero remained hot with a homer of his own — hours after it became clear his play at least temporarily has kept Anthony Volpe in the minors — and RBI knocks from Cody Bellinger, Amed Rosario and Aaron Judge (who reached base in four of five plate appearances) kept the offense buzzing.
Fernando Cruz relieved Warren in the seventh and inherited a second-and-third, one-out jam and allowed just a run on a swinging bunt. Camilo Doval and Jake Bird threw scoreless frames for a bullpen that has generally been solid.
The club’s defense, particularly from Caballero and Judge, was strong. But the Yankees have had no greater strength this season than their rotation, which sports a majors-best 2.70 ERA and is not close to full strength.
Carlos Rodón will pitch Tuesday in what could be his final rehab start. Gerrit Cole will be making his fourth minor league start Tuesday, too.
Spots will have to be cleared in a rotation that already has demoted Luis Gil, has given a shot to Elmer Rodríguez and also includes Ryan Weathers, who owns a 3.21 ERA through six starts.
The competition is on.
“I think we’re going to have the best staff in all of baseball when they come back,” said Warren, who has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his seven starts. “And so the best pitchers are going to pitch the majority of the games. Gotta make sure that I keep going out there and doing my job.”
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He did Friday, limiting the Orioles to two runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk in 6 ¹/₃ innings in which he struck out nine, slicing his ERA to 2.39 — which is an ace-like number but ranks third (behind Cam Schlittler’s 1.51 and Max Fried’s 2.09) on the Yankees.
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The 26-year-old allowed a second-inning home run to Pete Alonso and then retired 16 of the next 17 batters he faced, silencing the Orioles through various means on a night he focused more on off-speed and breaking pitches than fastballs. He has the stuff to make hitters look silly, Baltimore’s Coby Mayo nowhere close as he meekly swung at a sweeper that swept far away from him.
He did not have to rely upon chasing, though, and routinely challenged Baltimore hitters who looked overmatched. Gunnar Henderson stared at a perfectly placed strike-three sinker and walked back to the dugout without an argument.
His changeup, a weapon especially against lefty hitters, might have been the strongest it has been all season. The Orioles swung four times at the pitch and missed three.
Warren did not look like a pitcher who belongs in a bullpen.
“He’s not satisfied,” Boone said of a righty who made a leap last season and appears to be doing it again. “For all the good he did last year, I don’t think he was satisfied.”
