The Yankees opened their series at Wrigley Field with a 2-0 win over the Cubs, and somehow both runs came off solo shots from a rookie and a guy who's bounced around three infield positions this year. It wasn't pretty offense, but it didn't need to be.
Amed Rosario got it started in the fourth, turning on a get-me-over sweeper and depositing it just left of center. The Barstool crew clocked it as pure exit-velo theater the moment it left the yard.
Rosario's homer left the bat at 108 mph and carried a projected 450 feet at Wrigley.
That would've been enough of a highlight on its own, but Spencer Jones wasn't done making his case. The 6-foot-7 outfielder, called up in May after tearing up Triple-A, hit his second homer in 3 games with a 109 mph, 418-foot blast in the fifth. For a guy still figuring out the strike zone at the big-league level, this is exactly the kind of power output that keeps him in the lineup.
Jones rounds the bases after his solo shot put the Yankees up 1-0 at Wrigley.
The bat flips got the attention, but the story of the day was really Will Warren on the mound. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowed just 4 hits, struck out 7 on 88 pitches and didn't walk a batter, leaning heavily on changeups and curveballs to keep the Cubs' lefty-heavy lineup off balance. It was the best start of his season, and it came at a moment the Yankees' rotation badly needed a stopper.
Well if that was an audition for other teams you just saw what Will Warren is capable of. Loved how mixed all his pitches today, threw with confidence, worked fast. Big start given the bullpen situation
Paul Blackburn and the bullpen closed it out from there, and the Cubs never got anything going against a Yankees staff that mixed just enough to keep Wrigley quiet all afternoon. It added up to a shutout win built entirely on 2 solo homers, which is either a feel-good story about depth or a reminder that this offense still needs more than 2 swings a game to show up.
For Jones specifically, the stakes go beyond one game. He's the Yankees' No. 6 prospect and part of a planned 6-foot-7 tandem with Aaron Judge in the outfield, and every extra-base hit against big-league pitching is another data point on whether that experiment sticks. Warren, meanwhile, just bought himself more rope in a rotation that can't afford another shaky turn through the order. Both are things worth watching the next time these two teams line up.