Luis Gil was solid in his third start this season and Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s two-run blast proved to be the difference as the Yankees held on to defeat the Cardinals, 4-3, on Friday night in St. Louis.
The Yankees' win coupled with the Guardians' loss earlier in the day, increased their lead for the final wild card spot to 1.5 games.
Here are the takeaways…
-Manager Aaron Boone went with a different-looking lineup for Friday's game. With Aaron Judge occupying the DH spot, Giancarlo Stanton was relegated to the bench with Jose Caballero getting the start in right field. Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham rounded out the outfield. Cody Bellinger got the start at first base with Ben Rice behind the plate, and it was Rice who set the Yankees up early in this one.
Rice doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning. Judge grounded out but drove in Grisham from third. After a Bellinger flyout, Chisholm hit a laser into the right field stands for a two-run shot off starter Andre Pallante to put the Yankees up 3-0.
-Gil was on the mound and was effective despite seemingly nipping at the corners early. He would induce inning-ending double plays in each of his first three innings. Gil was cruising until the fifth inning when he started to lose the zone. The Cardinals got runners on the corners with no outs. But Gil got the next three batters in order (flyout, strikeout, groundout) to get out of the jam.
The same would not be the case in the sixth inning as Gil allowed back-to-back, one-out doubles as the Cardinals got on the board, and was the end of Gil's night.
Mark Leiter Jr. came in, and after a walk, the right-hander got another inning-ending double play, and put a bow on Gil's night.
Gil was economical heading into the sixth, but had to be pulled after tossing 83 pitches (50 strikes) across 5.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits and three walks while striking out four batters.
-The Yankees bullpen was a bit shaky. After Leiter, Camilo Doval was on for the seventh and allowed two runs on one hit, one walk and a HBP in just 0.2 innings pitched. Luke Weaver was called to close the door on the innings, but an 0-2 changeup in the dirt went through Rice's legs and allowed another Cardinals run to score (both charged to Doval) on the wild pitch. Weaver did get the strikeout to end the frame but the Yankees' lead was just 4-3 after seven.
Doval has allowed at least one run in three of his seven outings since being acquired by the Yankees. It's also the third time he's recorded fewer than three outs.
Weaver pitched in and out of trouble in the eighth after a two-out single and his own throwing error put the tying run in scoring position. Weaver got Nolan Gorman to strike out to end the frame.
David Bednar got the Cardinals 1-2-3 in the ninth to pick up his second save as a Yankee.
-After the Yankees went up 4-0, the offense completely went to sleep. They consistently had traffic on the bases but couldn't scratch across any more runs, and the ninth inning was the worst culprit. After Ryan McMahon walked and Caballero singled to lead off the inning, Grisham tried to bunt them over but failed, as McMahon was thrown out at third on the force out. Rice struck out and Judge walked to load the bases for Bellinger. But the slugger popped out to end the threat.
The Yankees were 3-for-17 with RISP and left nine men on base.
-Dominguez, getting his first at-bat since Aug. 10, finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts but delivered with an opposite-field single in the third inning to drive in the Yankees' fourth run of the game.
Caballero went 2-for-3 with a walk and one strikeout, while Rice finished 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Judge went 0-for-4 with a walk and an RBI groundout. He's now 5-for-29 since returning from the IL.
-One piece of good news for the Yankees was that Paul Goldschmidt came in to play first base in the eighth inning for defensive purposes. It looks as if the veteran slugger will avoid an IL stint.
Game MVP: Yankees bullpen (not named Doval)
The combination of Leiter, Weaver and Bednar got nine outs without allowing a run
Highlights
Aaron Judge gets the Yankees on the board first pic.twitter.com/CFWcTcoVm1
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 16, 2025
Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a two-run shot to right! pic.twitter.com/DMH96LSPno
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 16, 2025
Jasson Dominguez swings on 3-0 and makes it 4-0! pic.twitter.com/phy3AsQrbe
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 16, 2025
What's next
The Yankees and Cardinals play the middle game of their weekend series on Saturday evening. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.
Max Fried (12-5, 2.94 ERA) will take the mound against Sonny Gray (11-5, 4.06 ERA) in what will could be a pitcher's duel.
Read the full article here