Will Warren pitched his third consecutive quality start for the New York Yankees in a 7-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on May 2. The right-hander threw 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk, while striking out nine batters.
Warren’s performance is significant as it continues to strengthen the Yankees’ starting rotation, which has maintained a strong record despite injuries to key pitchers. After this outing, New York’s starters have posted a collective earned run average of 1.79 over their past 13 games and are averaging more than six innings per start.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “The body of work starting with Spring Training has been excellent — over and over again. … It just built up in Spring Training. It just carried into the season.” Boone added, “The stuff has been excellent. The strike-throwing is there. He was in command. You see all the swings and misses. He did a great job using the sinker in combination with using the four-seamer. The sweeper looked good. He mixed in the changeup well.”
Orioles manager Craig Albernaz also commented on Warren’s progress: “[Warren] made an adjustment this year where he’s all the way over on the third-base side, so he creates that angle, especially with that sweeper and then the sinker, too,” Albernaz said.
Despite his recent success, Warren acknowledged areas for growth: “… We kind of shifted. There was more offspeed than I’m used to,” he said. ”Being able to shift and still have confidence throwing out there and getting the results we had is nice to do.”
With Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón currently sidelined due to elbow injuries but expected back soon, Warren remains focused on maintaining his place in what he called potentially “the best staff in all of baseball.” As he put it: “When they come back, the best pitchers are going to pitch the majority of the innings. I have to make sure I can go out there and do my job.”
