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Anthony Volpe went 1-for-4 with a game-tying solo home run in the ninth inning before the Yankees won it 5-4 over the Rays in extra innings.
Is this a power hitter? Volpe stepped up to the plate with his Yankees down by one run in the bottom of the ninth and delivered a clutch, game-tying home run against Rays’ closer Pete Fairbanks. He didn’t hide his excitement while rounding the bases after a season’s worth of negativity from the New York media and his teammates seemed to celebrate extra hard when he returned to the dugout. That was Volpe’s sixth homer in 11 games. He had just six home runs in his previous 91 games when he was more focused on being a contact hitter. He’s also made five errors at shortstop in those same 11 games. A bit of an enigma production wise, it’s easy to forget that he’s still just 24 years old and going through some growing pains.
Devin Williams allowed two runs, one hit, and one walk in his one inning of work as he was saddled with a blown save against the Rays on Wednesday.
After allowing a run on Tuesday but still nailing down the save, Williams crumbled here and allowed a towering, go-ahead home run to Josh Lowe. Luckily, that blast only tied the game and the Yankees managed to pull this one out in extra innings. It was Williams’ first blown save since he was removed from the closer’s role in April and there are definitely some unwanted flashbacks happening right now since he’s allowed six earned runs through 11 July innings.
Will Warren allowed six hits and one run with one walk and four strikeouts across six innings in a no-decision against the Rays on Wednesday.
While the results wound up solid, Warren is still trying to work through some of the same command problems that have plagued him for the better part of a month. The Rays stacked their lineup with left-handed batters – often an issue for Warren – and he didn’t force a single swing-and-miss against them. He only forced four in total anyway, as he once again failed to consistently locate his sweeper. Still, he didn’t allow much solid contact and never let the Rays sustain a rally against him. Perhaps this says something about the floor he’s establishing for himself and his stomach to fight through a start without his best stuff. He’s scheduled to face the Rangers in Texas next time out.
Pete Fairbanks allowed two hits, one run, and struck one batter out in his lone inning of work on the way to a blown save against the Yankees on Wednesday.
Josh Lowe homered in the top half of the ninth to send the Rays ahead and give Fairbanks a save chance. Then, he promptly gave up a solo homer of his own to Josh Lowe which pushed this game to extra innings and an eventual Yankees win. This very well may have been Fairbanks’ last appearance as a Ray and his fantasy value hinges on which team he’s traded to if he is indeed on the move.
Josh Lowe went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run on Wednesday against the Yankees.
There was a moment where it looked like Lowe would be the hero of this game. He hit a towering shot into the second deck of the right field stands off Devin Williams in the ninth inning that quieted the Yankee Stadium faithful until Anthony Volpe stepped up in the bottom of the ninth with a home run of his own. That was Lowe’s first home run since July 2nd as he tried to pull himself out of what’s been an awful month offensively.
The Astros are acquiring infielder Ramón UrÃas from the Orioles, according to The New York Post’s Jon Heyman.
UrÃas makes a ton of sense for Houston as a temporary stopgap solution at the hot corner with Isaac Paredes (hamstring) appearing likely to miss the remainder of the regular season. The 31-year-old infielder is hitting .248/.300/.388 with eight homers, 34 RBI and two steals in 290 plate appearances over 77 games this season for the Orioles.