Yankees hope bats stay hot against Cardinals

Aug 30, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells (28) celebrates with second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) after hitting a two run home run during the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

After going through a tough time against the Washington Nationals, the New York Yankees saw the hitters around Aaron Judge come through on Monday against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

After productive performances from Juan Soto and rookie Austin Wells, the Yankees are in position to win the series when they face the Cardinals again on Saturday.

New York lost two of three in Washington while going 1 for 26 with runners in scoring position, but opened the three-game series against St. Louis with a 6-3 victory on Friday behind Soto and Wells.

Soto hit a game-tying double and had a key assist in right field. His double started a three-run third inning that included the first of two two-run homers by Wells.

While Soto has reached base in 115 of his 131 games and 30 of his last 47 hits have been extra-base hits, Wells is batting .346 (28-for-81) with five homers and 21 RBIs in 20 games as the starting cleanup hitter. Wells is also batting .327 (35-for-107) with six homers in his last 30 games, raising his average from .212 to .256.

“If you go back over the past few years, the receiving has been above what we expected and at the beginning of this year, we were expecting the bat to come, and it did,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He has really good at-bats and he’s got power, too. So this is what we’ve seen from him for probably more than a couple months, a real presence in the middle of the order.”

St. Louis fell to 0-7 all-time in the regular season against the Yankees in New York despite getting 10 hits on Friday.

Paul Goldschmidt had three hits in the series opener and is batting .571 (12-for-21) in his last six games. Nolan Arenado homered, but the Cardinals hit three double plays and didn’t draw a walk for the 13th time this season.

St. Louis, which has won just seven of its last 18 games, has begun to reinstate Jordan Walker into the lineup. The 22-year-old outfielder was recalled from Triple-A Memphis after Tommy Pham was designated for assignment on Friday, and will play every day.

“I think Jordan Walker has a chance to be an impact player, a real game-changer, for a long time for this organization,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said before the former first-round pick went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts Friday. “For him to do that, he’s going to need at-bats, but he’s also going to need some real adjustments in those at-bats to become that player.”

Kyle Gibson (7-6, 4.54 ERA), who is 0-3 with a 5.86 ERA in his last eight starts, is scheduled to start for the Cardinals on Saturday. Gibson’s last win came July 7 at Washington. He endured his worst outing in the current stretch by allowing seven runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on Monday.

Gibson is 2-7 with a 5.94 ERA in 12 career starts against the Yankees.

New York rookie Will Warren (0-2, 9.68 ERA) is making his fifth career start and is coming off the shortest of those outings. After allowing two runs in five innings during a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 14, Warren was tagged for six runs (five earned) and seven hits in three innings in a 9-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. He also committed two balks in that contest.

Warren has not faced the Cardinals.

–Field level media