Judge, Torres, and Cortes Lead Yankees to 5-2 Win Over Nationals in Crews’ Debut

In a thrilling matchup on Monday night, the New York Yankees secured a 5-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. This game marked a significant moment as it showcased the major league debut of Dylan Crews, a highly regarded prospect for the Nationals.

Leading the charge for the Yankees was Gleyber Torres, who started the game with a leadoff homer. Adding to the excitement, Aaron Judge contributed both with his bat and his glove, achieving his 1,000th career hit while also executing an incredible defensive play. The win for the Yankees came as their fifth in the last six games, allowing them to pull ahead of the idle Baltimore Orioles in the AL East standings.

Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. also made impactful contributions to the scoreboard, each hitting home runs and providing some essential run support for pitcher Nestor Cortes, who improved his record to 8-10 with a strong performance on the mound.

Anthony Volpe shone at the plate as well, notching a double and two singles while also scoring twice on sacrifice flies from DJ LeMahieu. Alex Verdugo added to the offensive effort with three hits that kept the pressure on the Nationals throughout the game.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone praised Torres’ performance, emphasizing the importance of his leadoff home run which set a positive tone for the game. “That first at-bat, he’s not sacrificing aggression but having a lot of long, patient at-bats,” Boone stated. “That was a good strike there to grab us a lead.”

As for Dylan Crews, who was the third-ranked prospect in all of baseball, he experienced a challenging start, going 0 for 3 with a walk in his debut. With two runners on base in the sixth inning, Crews faced a critical moment but struck out, failing to capitalize on the opportunity.

After being drafted second overall last year from LSU, Crews expressed his excitement about competing at the major league level. “It was an awesome feeling to go out there for the first time and compete with the guys,” he remarked, despite the loss. “Obviously, we didn’t end up winning today, but tomorrow we’re going to come out swinging.”

Torres continued his impressive form by hitting his second home run in as many games, making it the 12th of the season. His 366-foot line drive over the left-field fence off pitcher Mitchell Parker marked his second leadoff homer of 2023 and extended his on-base streak to 21 games, just one shy of his career high set in 2019.

Wells followed suit with his 10th homer off reliever Tanner Rainey in the sixth inning, while Chisholm capped off the offensive display with his 21st long ball in the eighth. Clay Holmes closed out the game effectively, completing a perfect ninth inning for his 28th save of the season. The Yankees’ successful road campaign has seen them win 42 games, the highest total in the majors this year.

Judge’s significant achievement of 1,000 hits is a noteworthy milestone, positioning him as the 42nd player in Yankees’ history to reach this mark. Reflecting on the accomplishment, Judge said, “It’s a great milestone, but there’s more work to be done.” His glove was just as impressive as his bat, as he made a stunning catch against the left-center wall to deny a home run from Washington’s Andrés Chaparro, and later helped turn a double play that ended the fourth inning.

Cortes had an excellent outing as well, yielding only one run over 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, and racking up five strikeouts against two walks. Cortes attributes part of his success to the outstanding defense behind him. “I don’t think I go as long in the game if it wasn’t for those amazing catches that were made out there,” he stated.

Parker, pitching for Washington, went four innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five. The Nationals did manage to score two runs with homers from Juan Yepez and Jacob Young, but they have now dropped eight of their last twelve games.

In the injury updates, Yankees rookie RHP Luis Gil threw a bullpen session, and the team is determining whether he’ll face live batters next. The Nationals are hoping for the return of RHP Josiah Gray, who is progressing from Tommy John surgery.

The upcoming matchup features Yankees’ RHP Gerrit Cole going against Nationals’ LHP Patrick Corbin, promising another exciting game.

Source: AP