Yankees avoid Dodgers sweep as Ryan Yarbrough shines against baseball's top offense

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Jun 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES – As the New York Yankees prepared for Friday’s series-opener at Dodger Stadium, Ryan Yarbrough walked off the field carrying a glossy blue box.

Inside sat a 2024 World Series ring, loaded with diamonds and Dodger-blue sapphires. The jewelry was Yarbrough’s reward for appearing in 32 games for Los Angeles last season. While the Dodgers traded him to the Blue Jays long before they beat the Yankees in the World Series, Yarbrough still earned a prize that none of his current teammates received.

On Sunday, however, Yarbrough gifted the Yankees a win, shoving against his former team in a 7-3 victory. The win staved off a Dodgers sweep in the two teams’ first series matchup since last year’s Fall Classic.

Yarbrough, continuing to make the most of his funky delivery and junk-ball arsenal, cruised for six innings. The only run he allowed came on a Tommy Edman homer in the second.

The swingman, who has permitted just six runs in his five starts with the Yankees, also tallied four hits, zero walks and five strikeouts over 93 pitches against baseball’s highest-scoring offense.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on the other hand, had no feel for his splitter and lacked command on Sunday. That combination had the Japanese ace, one of the best pitchers in the sport this season, out of the game after 3 2/3 innings. He totaled seven hits, four earned runs, three walks, two strikeouts and 96 pitches.

Yamamoto had dominated the Yankees in two previous career starts against them, including Game 2 of the World Series, but he appeared off his game from the get-go.

The first inning saw Trent Grisham single and score on a two-out knock from Jasson Domínguez as Andy Pages airmailed a throw over home plate. Ben Rice then smoked a two-run homer to straightaway center in the third. A wild pitch scored Anthony Volpe before the inning ended.

With Yamamoto out of the game, ex-Yankee Lou Trivino then surrendered RBI singles to DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza in the fifth to make it a 6-1 game.

Pages and Max Muncy chipped away at the Yankees’ lead with solo homers off Jonathan Loáisiga in the seventh, but LeMahieu added an RBI double – his fourth hit of the day – in the ninth. The Dodgers, meanwhile, couldn’t complete their comeback bid against Devin Williams and Tim Hill in the final innings.

The Yankees’ win wasn’t without issue, as they lost Domínguez mid-game. The outfielder exited with a left thumb contusion shortly after stealing second in the fifth inning.

With Domínguez banged up and a highly-anticipated series salvaged after some painful losses– the Yankees haven’t been swept all year – the Bombers will fly across the country and enjoy an off day on Monday. They’ll then begin a homestand with Cleveland before playing Boston for the first time this season.

Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Max Fried are lined up for the Guardians series. Tanner Bibee, Luis Ortiz and Slade Cecconi are scheduled to pitch for Cleveland.

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