The road trip from hell was one big hit from being completed. After an exhilarating deadline, the Yankees had begun August 0-5 after starting July 0-5. In this road trip, they endured two crushing defeats primarily due to bullpen ineptitude last Friday and on Monday, while suffering offensive woes in the other three.
The stakes were unbelievably high in this one. For the first time since 2023, the Yankees were a loss away from being outside the playoff picture. With an L, the team would’ve dropped behind the Rangers for the third Wild Card and fumbled a chance at a tiebreaker on them at season’s end. It was fair to say this was the most important game of the season with the heat turning up on the team.
Well, in a two-month span where the Yankees have been playing out a nightmare, they got a respite in a Wednesday matinee in Arlington. Paul Goldschmidt came off the bench with a go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the seventh, and the Yankees got lockdown relief from their shorthanded bullpen, surviving to win 3-2. A sorely needed victory, as they stole the third and final game of this three-game set.
The game started on the right note for the Yankees, as Trent Grisham led off with a single and Ben Rice got to a three-ball count. Although Jack Leiter rebounded to strike out Rice, he fell behind Aaron Judge 3-0, a dangerous proposition for a young pitcher. Fortunately for him, Judge got antsy and popped up the next pitch that was inside. Ultimately, it turned into a casual 1-2-3 inning.
Rodón did his job in the bottom half, matching a zero despite an infield single by Corey Seager. Leiter settled in to toss an easy second, while Rodón gave up a pair of baserunners but survived thanks to a nifty double play turned by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe.
In the third, the Yankees got their first real traffic after a Ryan McMahon single and two-out walk by Rice brought up the reigning AL MVP with two on and two out. Judge would work a six-pitch at-bat before being punched out on a borderline changeup away, a beautiful pitch by Leiter that got the call.
Trouble hit for Rodón in the third, giving up a rocket leadoff double to former Yankees farmhand Ezequiel Duran and an RBI single by lefty killer Sam Haggerty. Things were on the verge of unraveling after Rodón got squeezed into a walk of Seager, but the Yankees’ defense turned a second double play in as many innings and Rodón got a fly ball from Adolis García to end the inning at the cost of the Rangers taking a 1-0 lead.
Leiter’s command, which has been an issue for him all season, reared its ugly head in the fourth. A four-pitch walk to Cody Bellinger, long fly out from Chisholm, and a walk to Jasson Domínguez got them back in business. Needing a big hit, the Yankees got a game-tying RBI single from Volpe, who was sure to revel in a big base knock off a longtime friend and high school teammate. Aggressive baserunning by Domínguez saw him steal third and score on an errant throw from old friend Kyle Higashioka, putting the Yankees up 2-1.
Veteran Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy made an extremely aggressive move to yank the young Leiter on under 70 pitches, but the move paid off. Hoby Milner came on and induced two weak groundballs out of Austin Wells and Grisham to end the inning. There was a case to be made to use one of the Yankees’ four bench righties for Wells, but with Rice catching last night and J.C. Escarra in the minors, that wasn’t happening. Rodón would put together a much-needed 1-2-3 inning in the fourth to not only stabilize the pitch count but also post a shutdown inning.
The offense remained flummoxed by Milner, who beautifully sequenced a strikeout of Rice, pitched around Judge, and got Bellinger to hit into an easy 4-6-3 double play. Rodón dealt with some infield shenanigans to start the fifth, barely retiring Josh Smith on a groundball to Rice before allowing a second swinging bunt single, this time to Duran. Duran entered this series batting .156 and went 4-for-5 in these three games. Of course.
Haggerty, who is hitting .353 against southpaws this season, worked a gritty walk, and Seager blooped a popup single to no man’s land. That set up Marcus Semien to hit a game-tying sac fly, but Rodón retired García to keep the game tied at two and end the inning. Milner stayed out there and got another three outs with ease. (Jon Gray on Monday; Milner today. Rough stuff from the offense.)
Even worse, Rodón provided minimal length. Despite being in solid shape for another inning, Aaron Boone brought the hook with him to the mound after Rodón issued his fourth walk to lead off the sixth to Wyatt Langford. It was another iffy start for Rodón, who’s now walked at least four hitters in three of his last four outings. He didn’t hurt the team, but with the state of the bullpen and the desperate need for a statement performance from somebody, it wasn’t ideal.
Mark Leiter Jr. came on for his second straight outing returning from the IL and retired Josh Jung before getting a 4-4-3 double play out of Higashioka on a lucky bounce off the mound. Leiter Jr. entered play with a ridiculously high .406 BABIP against and league-worst -9 OAA from his defense when pitching, so that’s a welcome sight.
Amed Rosario pinch-hit for McMahon to start the inning against lefty Robert Garcia, who got him to ground out. Boone deployed a second pinch-hitter, Paul Goldschmidt, to pinch hit for Wells. While an interesting move to make now instead of a bigger spot in the fourth, the move paid off, as Goldschmidt smashed his second home run of the series to left field to take the lead, 3-2. After going 2-for-2 with a home run and double against the lefty Patrick Corbin on Monday, MLB’s top lefty killer did it again.
New York attempted to add on following the one-out homer, as Rice and Judge singled and Bellinger worked an extremely gritty walk to load the bases for Chisholm, who just barely got under a 2-1 sinker for his second warning track fly out of the night. The ball doesn’t carry as much in a dome, and the Yankees have learned this painful lesson over the last six days. For the record, Globe Life Field is one of the stingiest ballparks for home runs in 2025.
Tim Hill made his first appearance of the series and retired Smith, gave up another single to Duran, and Haggerty reached on a catcher’s interference, because of course he did. After a quick strikeout of Seager, Boone pulled the plug for Yerry De los Santos to face Semien, whom he subsequently walked. In a perilous bases-loaded situation, the Yankees continued to hold down “El Bombi,” who again got under one and flew out to center field to end the threat.
Cole Winn came on for the eighth for the Rangers and walked Domínguez to start the inning, only to get Volpe to hit into a 5-4-3 double play and get Jose Caballero to ground out. De los Santos stayed on to retire Langford to start the eighth before giving way to David Bednar against pinch-hitter Joc Pederson, whom he walked. Pederson, for those keeping score, has reached in all six plate appearances this series. Bednar locked in from there, fanning Higashioka and Smith to end the inning.
Winn stayed on for the Rangers. Goldschmidt just missed another homer on a deep flyout to left, Grisham walked, and Rice hit into a double play. Hold your breaths; it’s time for the bottom of the ninth.
Bednar came out firing. He struck out both a pinch-hitting Rowdy Tellez and the switch-hitting Haggerty. He fell behind Seager 3-0, but battled back on two beautifully located pitches. On 3-2, he fired a backdoor splitter that caught the corner for stri-
Ball four. Seager walked. Semien singled after and Boone came out to settle down Bednar with Camilo Doval heating up in the bullpen and Bednar’s pitch count soaring to uncomfortable levels. Adolis García came up for the Rangers with the tying run on second and the winning run on first and worked a great at-bat, even getting another favorable call in the process.
Ultimately, Bednar gritted his teeth and finished off a 42-pitch, five-out save with a filthy splitter that Garcia whiffed through for strike three. Ballgame over, losing streak over. Leiter Jr. (rather than cousin Jack) got the win in his second game back, while Bednar notched his 16th save and first as a Yankee. Exhale.
After an offday tomorrow, the Yankees will head home and start a three-game set against the Houston Astros in the Bronx on Friday at 7pm EDT. It’ll be Cam Schlittler against the Astros’ young ace Hunter Brown on YES.