The final time Walker Buehler pitched within the Bronx, he ended the Yankees’ championship desires.
Then a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the right-handed Buehler recorded the ultimate three outs of the 2024 World Sequence. Between his Recreation 3 begin and that Recreation 5 save, Buehler hurled six shutout innings — all within the Bronx — within the Fall Traditional.
However Buehler’s return to Yankee Stadium on Friday night time went a lot otherwise.
The Yankees battered Buehler, now a starter for the Boston Purple Sox, of their series-opening 9-6 win.
They scored seven runs (5 earned) on seven hits and two walks in opposition to Buehler, who lasted solely two innings.
5 of these runs got here within the first inning, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. drilled a three-run house run and Anthony Volpe adopted with a two-run shot, all with two outs.
Chisholm added a two-out RBI single within the second. Two batters later, Buehler plunked Volpe within the left elbow with an 88.8-mph changeup with the bases loaded, giving the Yankees a 7-0 lead.
The hit-by-pitch left Volpe in seen ache, and whereas he initially remained within the recreation, he exited at first of the fourth inning as Oswald Peraza took over at shortstop. The Yankees referred to as Volpe’s damage an elbow contusion and mentioned he was receiving X-rays and a CT scan.
Friday marked the Yankees’ first-ever regular-season recreation in opposition to Buehler, who signed a one-year, $21 million contract with Boston through the winter.
The Yankees (39-23) continued scoring after Buehler’s early exit, with Aaron Choose delivering a fifth-inning RBI single and Paul Goldschmidt including a sixth-inning solo house run.
Choose went 3-for-5 and raised his common by 5 factors to .397.
Chisholm completed 3-for-5 with 4 RBI. He’s now 8-for-16 with two homers and 6 RBI in 4 video games since coming off the injured checklist with an indirect pressure.
The Yankees totaled 14 hits, together with three house runs, in entrance of a crowd of 46,783.
That offensive outburst got here in assist of rookie starter Will Warren (4-3), who picked up the win after permitting 4 runs in 5.1 innings with six strikeouts and 4 walks.
The outing represented one thing of a bounce again for Warren, who was pounded for seven runs in 1.1 innings in his earlier begin in Los Angeles.
“I think he turned the page, regardless of what happens,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned of Warren going into Friday’s recreation. “He’s a confident kid and in a good spot.”
Warren held Boston scoreless by way of 4 innings, then surrendered a house run to 22-year-old Marcelo Mayer to guide off the fifth. It was the primary profession homer for Mayer, one in all baseball’s premier prospects, in his tenth MLB recreation.
The Purple Sox scored three extra runs within the sixth, then reduce the deficit to 9-6 when Rafael Devers crushed a two-run house run in opposition to Brent Headrick within the seventh.
However Fernando Cruz, Jonathan Loáisiga and Devin Williams held Boston scoreless over the ultimate 2.2 innings to complete off the Yankees’ win.
This weekend’s three-game sequence is the Yankees’ first of the season in opposition to the rival Purple Sox.
The Purple Sox entered the season with excessive expectations after their offseason additions of Buehler, ace Garrett Crochet and third baseman Alex Bregman, who’s on the injured checklist with a quad pressure.
However Boston has been amongst baseball’s greatest disappointments, falling to 30-35 with Friday’s loss. The fourth-place Purple Sox are actually 10.5 video games behind the division-leading Yankees within the American League East.
“I feel like it’s a talented group that’s still searching to find its footing a little bit,” Boone mentioned of Boston earlier than the sequence opener. “They’ve got a couple of key injuries, but a talented group and a dangerous team.”
The Yankees look to clinch a sequence victory on Saturday night time, with Ryan Yarbrough (3-0, 2.83 ERA) set to start out. It received’t come simply, nevertheless, as Boston sends the red-hot Crochet (5-4, 1.98 ERA) to the mound.
