Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees Lineup Mashes on Mother's Day

The Bronx Bombers lived up to their name as they took a series from the Rays.

Joe Najarian

May 12, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Jahmai Jones (14) runs the
May 12, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Jahmai Jones (14) runs the / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
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After relatively quiet games against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday and Saturday, the New York Yankees' lineup flexed its muscles in the series finale.

Donning pink for Mother's Day, the Bronx Bombers gave plenty of mothers something to smile about by pounding five home runs in cavernous Tropicana Field. Jahmai Jones, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and Jose Trevino all went deep as the Yankees won a 10-6 slugfest.

Jones, who got the surprise start in left field, made to most of his opportunity by reaching base in three of his four plate appearances, with a home run, walk, and hit-by-pitch. The home run was the first of his career, as he caught hold of a sweeper from Tyler Alexander and hammered a screaming line drive just over the left-center field wall. The milestone shot traveled 383 feet and jumped off the bat at 109.5 mph. It was an especially special moment for Jones, who lost his father before his freshman year of high school; his mom, Michele, would parent him and his five siblings.

"I went up there, just relaxed, looking for a pitch to hit," Jones said in a post-game interview with Meredith Marakovits. "I hit it and saw [Jonny] DeLuca go back, and I was like, 'Come on, that's gotta go!' ... It's a moment I'll never forget, and seeing the dugout erupt and get as excited as I did is what made it special."

Jones's solo shot gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the third inning; in the first inning, Anthony Volpe led off the game with a triple and scored the first run on Juan Soto's sacrifice fly. But after Jones went yard, the lineup went wild at the plate.

The lead would swell to 6-0 two innings later, as Trevino and Judge added two-run homers in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Judge now leads the team with 10 long balls.

As it turned out, the Yankees would need all six of those runs. Although Luis Gil provided another quality start with six shutout innings, the Rays stormed back in the seventh against Caleb Ferguson and Nick Burdi, who combined for only one out. A grand slam by Jose Siri off Ferguson got Tampa Bay right back in it, and Burdi allowed all three batters he faced to reach base; long-reliever Luke Weaver allowed one of those runs to score to make it a one-run game, but he escaped the inning with the lead still intact.

Although the Rays were now in it to win it, they wouldn't be for long as the Yankee bats got right to work in the eighth inning.

A single by Giancarlo Stanton and a double by Anthony Rizzo put two runners in scoring position for the slumping Gleyber Torres, who was 0-for-3 up to this point. Facing Shawn Armstrong, he got a hanging cutter and blasted a three-run home run to left-center, widening the lead back up to four runs and giving Torres a major confidence booster.

Trevino then provided the coup de grace with his second home run of the game, a solo shot off Erasmo Ramirez to make it 10-5. It was the second multi-homer game of the Yankee catcher's career, who has been one of the team's hottest hitters as of late and improved his slash line to .293/.341/.453 with a 129 wRC+ to compliment his renowned defensive prowess.

"It's a long process of working hard at it. It didn't come overnight," Trevino said about his recent success at the plate. "I'm just trying to hone in on the pitches I want to hit."

"I think [Trevino's] doing a better job at controlling the zone," manager Aaron Boone said.

After New York's resounding counterpunch, all the Rays could muster was a meaningless solo homer by Yandy Diaz off Ian Hamilton in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the 10-6 victory, the Yankees took two-of-three in Tropicana Field, which has been a longtime house of horrors for the team, and improved their record to 27-15. They now sit just a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.

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Joe Najarian
JOE NAJARIAN

Joe Najarian is a Rutgers University graduate from the Class of 2022. After an eight-month stint with Jersey Sporting News (JSN), covering Rutgers Football, Rutgers Basketball, and Rutgers Baseball, Najarian became a contributing writer on Inside the Pinstripes and Inside the Mets. He additionally writes on Giants Country, FanNation’s site for the New York Giants. Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeNajarian

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