Will Warren delivers five scoreless innings in Yankees' 3-0 win against Athletics

The Yankees opened their brief three-game homestand on a positive note, shutting out the Athletics, 3-0, on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the takeaways…

— The start to Will Warren's outing was anything but economical. The rookie right-hander fell behind immediately, walking the leadoff hitter after a nine-pitch battle and then allowing two more hitters to ultimately reach base on balls. But sandwiched in between the free passes were a pair of strikeouts, and he wound up escaping the bases-loaded jam with a third punchout of former Yankees infielder Gio Urshela. Warren needed a whopping 36 pitches to complete the first inning.

— In his 500th career game, Jazz Chisholm Jr. brought out the power bat. He gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the second with a solo home run off A's starter Mitch Spence that struck the facing of the second deck in right. The blast was No. 12 on the year for Chisholm, who's hitting a robust .325 with 14 RBI since coming off the injured list in early June (21 games).

— The Yankees bumped their lead to 2-0 in the third, when Cody Bellinger drove in Anthony Volpe with an RBI single to center. It was a matchup the A's preferred with a runner on second, as they intentionally walked Aaron Judge with two outs to bring Bellinger to the plate. While the A's can't regret taking the bat out of Judge's hands, Bellinger is now hitting 6-for-15 (.400) with two extra-base hits and seven RBI following an intentional walk to Judge.

— Further damage was inflicted on Spence in the fourth. With one out, the Yankees loaded the bases via a pair of walks and a catcher's interference error, and then DJ LeMahieu made the score 3-0 with an infield single that deflected off Spence's throwing hand. This time around, the A's were forced to pitch to Judge with no base open, but Spence worked out of trouble by striking out the Yankees' captain on an elevated cutter.

— The prolonged first inning from Warren surprisingly didn't prevent him from qualifying for the win. He retired the A's in order on 11 pitches in the second, outlasted six of seven batters between the third and fourth innings, and worked around a leadoff double and walk in the fifth by inducing a strikeout, flyout, and groundout. Warren threw 100 pitches across five scoreless frames, striking out seven with four walks and two hits allowed.

— Tim Hill took over for Warren in the sixth, and quickly ran into trouble after giving up a leadoff single and seeing Chisholm boot a grounder at third just three pitches later. But the crafty lefty kept the A's off the board, inducing a double-play grounder of Urshela and a strikeout of JJ Bleday. The seventh inning belonged to Fernando Cruz, who retired the side on 16 pitches, and then Luke Weaver — making his third appearance since returning from the IL last week — struck out one in a scoreless eighth. Devin Williams was tasked with the ninth and earned his 11th save by striking out one.

Game MVP: Will Warren

The Yankees couldn't have asked for more from Warren, who overcame a first-inning mess and went on to pitch five scoreless frames. His season ERA now sits at 4.37 across 17 starts (80.1 innings).

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees (47-34) will play the middle game of their series on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Clarke Schmidt (4-3, 2.84 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite left-hander JP Sears (5-7, 5.44 ERA).

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