Yankees Takeaways: Three Homers against Skubal lead the Yankees to a Series Win
New York Takes 2/3 in Detroit
DETRIOT — After losing the first game of the series, the Yankees bounced back to win the final two games against the Tigers in one of the more impressive series wins of the Yankees season thus far.
It was not a scrub pitcher the Yankees beat today; it was the reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. In his start tonight, it was the first time since 2021 that Skubal allowed three home runs in a game.
Young Goldi
The Yankees never trailed in this game. That is thanks to Paul Goldschmidt. Up in the count to lead off the game, Goldschmidt took a 3-1 fastball and powered it out of the park for a leadoff home run.
Goldschmidt was not done yet. While Skubal was dominating the rest of the Yankees lineup, he was not dominating Goldschmidt. In his second at-bat, he took an 0-1 curveball out to left-center for his second home run of the game.
Goldschmidt is making the case for the hall of fame. On June 24th, Goldschmidt has more home runs (14) than he did all of last season (11). With the injuries the Yankees have suffered this season, Goldschmidt’s performance has been big for the Yankees.
El Marciano
Skubal made Jasson Dominguez look silly in his first two at-bats, striking him out, and began his third at-bat as well. But Dominguez battled. He took some close pitches in the at-bat and fouled off some tough pitches until he got to a 3-2 count. Dominguez then hammered a changeup to deep left field for the game-deciding two-run blast.
"Just a great finishing at-bat by JD after really struggling against him in the first 2-plus." Manager Aaron Boone said after the game of the at-bat.
It was the third home run this season off the bat of Dominguez and the first against a left-handed pitcher. If Dominguez could get hot from both sides of the plate, that would certainly go a long way.
Yankees Pitching
Ryan Weathers was by no means dominant today. In fact, he was lucky. His defense picked him up in multiple spots, including in the fifth inning, where Max Schuemann robbed two hits in center field. Weathers also made a sparkling defensive play to nab a runner trying to advance to third with one out.
The Yankees’ bullpen did its job once again today. Camilo Doval showed flashes of greatness and flashes of weakness in one outing. He got ahead of catcher Jake Rogers 0-2 and proceeded to walk him. He got a popout and a groundout before Boone went to Fernando Cruz.
Cruz struck out four of the five batters he faced, the other being a hit, to retire the side. When Cruz has his splitter working, it makes his job so much easier because batters can’t not swing at the pitch because of how deceptive it is.
David Bednar then worked his 11th straight scoreless appearance in the ninth and was nasty once again. He allowed a two-out single to McGonicle, but Dillon Dingler flew out on the very next pitch to end the game. Bednar has been much better in 2026 than fans will give him credit for.
The Yankees are now going to ship up to Boston for a four-game series. The series probables are listed below, but hometown prodigy Cam Schlittler will toe the rubber tomorrow, opposite Connelly Early, for a rematch of Game 1 of the 2025 AL Wild Card game. First pitch will be at 7:10pm on YES.
THURS: RHP Cam Schlittler (8-3, 1.71) vs. LHP Connelly Early (6-5, 3.64)
FRI: RHP Will Warren (7-2, 3.45) vs. LHP Payton Tolle (3-5, 3.08)
SAT: RHP Gerrit Cole (2-2, 3.62) vs. LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 3.71)
SUN: LHP Carlos Rodón (4-2, 3.70) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (9-1, 2.95)