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 found its way to the mound, Warren was facing second.
But blinded to the ball, he 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 a rotation that will evolve.
The young right-hander was brilliant again 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.
The Yankees (21-11) have the American League’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 inning that drained much of the drama from the proceedings.
José Caballero remained hot with a home run of his own — the Yankees are 13-1 when they have launched multiple homers in a game — and RBI knocks from Cody Bellinger, Amed Rosario and Aaron Judge (who reached in four of five plate appearances) kept the offense buzzing.
Fernando Cruz relieved Warren and inherited a second-and-third, one-out jam and allowed just a run on a swinging bunt.
Camilo Doval and Jake Bird then threw scoreless frames for a bullpen that has generally been solid.
Defensively, Judge made a nice catch while jumping against the right field wall and Caballero stole a hit with a diving play, which helped render a misplay from Trent Grisham forgivable.
But the Yankees have had no greater strength this season than their rotation, which now sports a majors-best 2.69 ERA and is not close to full strength.
Carlos Rodón will pitch Tuesday in what could be his final rehab start before he rejoins the rotation.
Gerrit Cole will be making his fourth minor league start Tuesday, too, getting close to linking up with a group that could be the game’s best in October.
Spots will have to be cleared in the Yankees’ rotation.
If Warren keeps pitching like this, it is hard to conceive of his going anywhere.
Warren limited 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.
The 26-year-old allowed a second-inning home run to former Met Pete Alonso and then retired 16 of the next 17 batters he faced, silencing the Orioles through various means.
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, one of the game’s most dangerous hitters, 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.
Everything worked for Warren until the seventh, when Alonso worked a one-out walk and Samuel Basallo singled into center, the ball skipping past Grisham to put two in scoring position.
But Cruz entered and allowed just the one unearned run to score.
The Yankees already have demoted Luis Gil in favor of top prospect Elmer Rodríguez, who would love to pitch his way into the conversation (as would Carlos Lagrange).
Ryan Weathers owns a 3.21 ERA through six starts and might have the better overall stuff than Warren.
Barring injuries in the next few weeks, there will be rotation questions the Yankees must answer.
With each start, Warren is making those answers increasingly difficult.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
