About Last Night: Yanks Win 4-1

by Paul Semendinger

April 15, 2025

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Public Service: Did you do your taxes? It's Tax Day.

About Last Night:

The Yankees won 4-1. Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco pitched a gem. The bullpen did its job. Four Yankees hit solo home runs.

Baseball is more fun when the Yankees win!

Quick Stats:

WP- Carlos Carrasco

SV- Devin Williams

HR (NYY) - Jazz Chisholm, Trent Grisham, Ben Rice, Austin Wells

The Game Itself:

THE FIRST THREE INNINGS:

Carlos Carrasco, the Yankees starter, got off to a very good start. He walked two batters in the first, but allowed no runs, nor hits. He retired in the side in order in the second, but in the third inning, with two outs, he allowed a solo homer to Bobby Witt, Jr.

The Yankees, went down in order in the first, had a hit (Goldschmidt) and walk (Dominguez) but no runs in the second, and two hits (Cabrera and Judge), but a double play, and no runs in the third.

After three innings, the score stood at Royals 1, Yankees 0.

THE MIDDLE THREE INNINGS:

Carlos Carrasco pitched extremely well last night. He retired the Royals in order in the fourth inning with the help of an excellent catch by Jasson Dominguez on a liner deep to left. He then retired the side in order again in the fifth inning. I would have loved to see Carrasco come out for the sixth inning, but after five innings of one-hit pitching, the Yanks went to the bullpen. Fernando Cruz pitched the sixth and retired the side in order. Jasson Dominguez made another nice play in left field on a hard hit ball.

In the Yankees' fourth, one batter poped out weakly (Volpe), two struck out (Goldschmidt and Dominguez), and one had a hit. The good news was that the hit was a Jazz Chisholm homer to tie the game at one run each. In the fifth, the Yankees exploded. They homers from Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, then that Aaron Judge guy came up. He didn't homer. He didn't even get on base. But then Austin Wells homered. Four homers for the Yanks, three in one inning, all solo shots, and the team was rolling...

After six innings, the score stood at Yankees 4, Royals 1

THE FINAL THREE INNINGS

The Royals did nothing. Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill retired the side in order in the seventh inning. Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless eighth. (He walked on batter.) Devin Williams gave up a bloop single and a walk, but also allowed no runs to close out the game and earn the save.

The Yankees also didn't score, but... they didn't need to.

Fianl Score: Yankees 4, Royals 1

Player of the Game:

Carlos Carrasco - He pitched great. He turned back the clock. Do I now believe in him? No. Not yet. He needs to pitch well more a few more times for me to believe he is that good, or even close to that good, but he was that good last night. Every great fighter has one last good fight, or so they say. I hope this wasn't Carrasco's last great start. I'd love to see more like this. I hope he makes me have confidence in him.

Authors of the Game:

In the bottom of the sixth inning, David Cone mentioned the book I wrote with Roy White (From Compton to the Bronx). Cone said, twice, that he highly recommended the book. It was a magical moment. Marty Appel heard the telecast and e-mailed me. Numerous friends reached out as well. It was awesome!!!

My Takes and Other Notes:

UNPOPULAR TAKE OF THE NIGHT - Aaron Judge was named capitain of the USA team for the World Baseball Classic in 2026. I think that's great. Good for Judge. He's a superstar, he deserves that honor. (None of that is my unpopular take.) But, from my perspective, I couldn't care less about the WBC and I'd prefer that Aaron Judge not play in that tournament and instead stay with the Yankees in Spring Training to properly prepare for the season. I never want any Yankees players to play in the WBC. The risk of injury (however small) isn't worth it to me. I won't watch the WBC. I've never watched the WBC. I am always concerned that a Yankee will get hurt in the WBC and wreck the team's season. (Those are my unpopular takes.)

In the third inning, Vinnie Pasquantino followed Bobby Witt's homer fly flying out to deep right field. In the bottom of the frame, Austin Wells hit a shot that looked to be a homer, but it too was caught as a long fly out. It seemed like the balls might not be carrying... Soon after, three Yankees homered in the same inning.

Jazz Chisholm has homered in back-to-back games.

Jasson Dominguez looked very very good in left field defensively. That was great to see.

Trent Grisham often looks uncomfortable at the plate, but when he turns on a pitch and sends it deep into the night, boy those look great!

I don't believe the Yankees ever hit too many homers. I reject that premise, but there are also far too many times when the Yankees have not played good situational baseball and they've failed to move runners, and the like. Sometimes the team seems to only score when they hit home runs. (That happened last night.) A team cannot rely on homeruns only to score. Relying on homers that don't come is a bad approach. Yes, I hope they hit tons of homers, but a great team will also find other ways to score runs. When teams only hit home runs to score - that's the problem.

This is a series the Yankees should win. They need to be (and should be) better than the Kansas City Royals.

Up Next: This series continues tonight at 7:00 p.m. with Max Fried on the mound for the Yankees.