NEW YORK -- Beaming and thumping his chest, J.C. Escarra turned to find almost the entire Yankees roster chasing him, a deserved celebration after his first game-ending swing in the big leagues. The rookie first saw Austin Wells about to tackle him, then felt Anthony Volpe trying to tear his pinstriped jersey off, the buttons barely holding together.
“Those are the moments that I’ll never forget,” Escarra said. “These are things you dream about as a kid, and it’s all unfolding in real time in front of my eyes.”
Escarra lifted the deciding sacrifice fly, and several of his teammates delivered memorable performances in arguably the club’s best win of the season thus far. Trent Grisham came off the bench to crack a game-tying homer and Devin Williams pinned the bases loaded in a crucial spot, setting up the Yankees’ 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Padres on Wednesday evening at Yankee Stadium.
“Just a lot of fight, a lot of grit,” Grisham said. “This series was kind of like the ability of the guys that are in this locker room; there was a lot of fight. Every game, we were down, fighting back. We were in every single one of them, and then to come away with the last two was huge.”
Wednesday’s comeback was improbable, delivered after San Diego’s Dylan Cease carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Cody Bellinger shattered Cease’s bid for history with a second-deck homer, a swing that changed everything. The Yanks had a hit, the game was tied and Cease would soon exit with a right forearm cramp.
San Diego scored a pair of runs in the eighth; somewhat confusingly, loud reactions rippled through the crowd while the Padres moved ahead. Those cheers, however, were for the Knicks, who overcame a 20-point deficit to stun the Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. Many fans had been multitasking, tracking the hoops action on their phones.
“I figured the Knicks were doing well,” manager Aaron Boone said.
So would the Yankees, and Grisham had the response his team needed.
Viewed as a supplementary piece of the blockbuster swap that fitted Juan Soto for pinstripes in December 2023, Grisham has benefited from increased playing time, proving to be much more than his defense-first scouting report would suggest. Grisham’s second-deck drive to right field off Jason Adam was his 10th homer of the year, surpassing his total from all of last season.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by 'Cap' [Aaron Judge]. So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
Luke Weaver recorded five outs in relief, and the bullpen phone rang for Williams, whose first month-plus as a Yankee has hardly equaled expectations. Dislodged from the closer’s role in April, Williams was unbowed by a rough performance in Monday’s series opener, insisting that his confidence continues to build.
Boone has been steadfast in his belief that Williams will play a key role for the Yanks this season. Still, his reasoning for inserting Williams into a high-leverage situation on this night was simple: “We needed him, period.”
With no safety net and an automatic runner dancing from second base, Williams navigated the top of the order. It wasn’t clean, not with a walk and a hit batter, but it was effective -- especially the full-count “Airbender” that fell off the table to strike out Xander Bogaerts, pinning the bases loaded.
Williams pumped his fist, roared, then roared again, though he’ll need to watch the video to truly experience it. Williams said he “kind of blacked out, which is a good thing -- "I was completely locked in on what I was doing.”
“It was a big spot, you know?” Williams added. “Starting with the [automatic] runner at second, getting out of that without giving up any runs, I felt like our guys were going to come through and the game was going to be over -- and it was.”
Grisham’s homer, Williams’ escape and Escarra’s sac fly wouldn’t have been possible without Max Fried, as the Yankees improved to 8-0 in the left-hander’s starts.
Continuing a dominant opening to his Yankees career, Fried handcuffed the Padres over seven innings of one-run ball. He struck out eight, walked none and scattered five hits, including Jackson Merrill’s fourth-inning home run, which represented the first earned run Fried had permitted since April 15.
“I thought this might have been his best command game, in my opinion, all year,” Boone said, “Obviously, that’s saying something, with how well he’s pitched.”
Fried’s ERA is an American League-best 1.05 through 51 2/3 innings. In franchise history, only Whitey Ford (1.01 ERA in 1956) and Phil Niekro (1.04 ERA in 1984) have fared better over their first eight starts of a season.
“We went out and there and played our brand of baseball,” Fried said. “It was really big. We went down, but the offense always came back and answered. It’s just a really good series win.”