Will Warren continues to impress early on this season, and on Sunday afternoon the young right-hander delivered arguably his most impressive performance to this point.
It helps that the Yankees offense broke out and spotted him a seven-run advantage through four innings, but Warren still did his job, cruising his way through the Royals’ lineup.
“It’s always nice to go out there with a lead,” Warren said. “You’re not worried about giving up one or two runs — gave up some leadoff hits, but was able to keep my composure knowing that the boys are banging out there.”
One of those leadoff hits came on the very first pitch, as Maikel Garcia lined a double to open the game, but Warren was able to bare down and retired the next three hitters easily.
The youngster continued cruising from there, pushing the stretch to nine consecutive set aside before allowing a leadoff single to Bobby Witt Jr. in the top of the fourth.
Witt was quickly erased, though, as Warren picked him off first.
“I could see him out of the corner of my eye hopping off the base,” he said. “I had been talking with Ben [Rice] about some stuff and we executed and got him, so I was pretty pumped.”
Warren gave up another knock leading off the fifth, but responded by striking out the next three he faced and then breezing his way through a perfect sixth.
The lone blemish came in the seventh, as the 26-year-old gave up a single then rookie slugger Carter Jensen jumped him for a two-run shot to right, breaking up the shutout.
Warren rolled a grounder, then finished his day matching his career-high with his 11th strikeout.
He allowed just the two runs on five hits over seven stellar frames.
“The four-seam was really playing well,” Aaron Boone said. “He got a lot of swing-and-miss, the changeup was good today too, I just think it was the overall mix — it was good to see him take that lead and run with it, really good job.”
Warren’s pitched to a 2.49 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 31 strikeouts through his first five outings.
While Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are still a few rehab outings away from making their returns, this hot start certainly bodes well towards the youngster keeping his spot in the Yankees’ rotation.
Read the full article here
