After experiencing a rough time against the Washington Nationals, the New York Yankees watched the hitters surrounding Aaron Judge come through on Monday against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
After productive showings by Juan Soto and rookie Austin Wells, the Yankees are in position for a series win when the face the Cardinals again on Saturday.
New York dropped two of three at Washington by going 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position but opened the three-game series against St. Louis with a 6-3 win on Friday thanks to Soto and Wells.
Soto hit a game-tying double and had a key assist in right field. His double started a three-run third that featured the first of two two-run homers by Wells.
While Soto has reached base in 115 of his 131 games and 30 of his past 47 hits are for extra bases, Wells is hitting .346 (28-for-81) with five homers and 21 RBIs in 20 games as the starting cleanup hitter. Wells also is hitting .327 (35-for-107) with six homers in his past 30 games, raising his average from .212 to .256.
“You go back, the catching was ahead of where we expected last year and at the start of this year, kind of waiting on the bat to come, and it sure has,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He puts together really good at-bats and then he’s got that power in there, too. So this is what we’ve seen from him for probably more than a couple months now, just a real middle-of-the-order presence.”
St. Louis fell to 0-7 all-time in the regular season against the Yankees in New York despite collecting 10 hits on Friday.
Paul Goldschmidt had three hits in the series opener and is batting .571 (12-for-21) in his past six games. Nolan Arenado homered, but the Cardinals hit into three double plays and did not draw a walk for the 13th time this season.
St. Louis, which has just seven wins its past 18 contests, has started reincorporating Jordan Walker into the lineup. The 22-year-old outfielder was recalled from Triple-A Memphis after Tommy Pham was designated for assignment on Friday, and he will play daily.
“I think Jordan Walker has a chance to be a real, game-changing, impact player for a very long time for this organization,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said before the former first-round pick went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts on Friday. “In order for him to do that, he’s going to need the at-bats, but he’s also going to need some real adjustments in those at-bats to become that player.”
Kyle Gibson (7-6, 4.54 ERA), who is 0-3 with a 5.86 ERA in his past eight starts, is scheduled to start for the Cardinals on Saturday. Gibson’s last win came on July 7 in Washington. He endured his worst outing in the current stretch by allowing seven runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on Monday.
Gibson is 2-7 with a 5.94 ERA in 12 career starts against the Yankees.
New York rookie Will Warren (0-2, 9.68 ERA) will make his fifth career start and is coming off the shortest of those outings. After allowing two runs in five innings during a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 14, Warren was tagged for six runs (five earned) on seven hits in three innings in a 9-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. He also committed two balks in that contes.
Warren has not faced the Cardinals.
–Field Level Media