Five-run first inning sends Yankees past Diamondbacks as Ben Rice and George Lombard Jr. do the damage

The first inning told almost the whole story

The defining stretch came before Arizona had taken a swing. New York’s first inning was not a barrage of line drives so much as a long exercise in pressure. The Yankees drew walks, extended at-bats and kept traffic moving until Eduardo Rodriguez had to pitch from one mess into the next. Ben Rice forced in the first run with a walk, Amed Rosario followed with an RBI single, a wild pitch brought home Heliot Ramos, and George Lombard Jr. capped the frame with a two-run single to left.

The numbers around that inning help explain why it mattered so much. The Yankees finished with only eight hits, but they also drew six walks and made Arizona’s pitchers work through 174 pitches overall. That first inning turned those extra baserunners into immediate damage, and it gave New York the kind of cushion that changes the tone of the rest of the night. Arizona spent the rest of the game trying to erase an opening deficit that never got smaller than three runs.

Rice and Lombard Jr. kept the game from tightening

Arizona did have one clean punch back. In the second inning, Corbin Carroll homered to right, a 388-foot shot that scored Geraldo Perdomo and cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-2. For a moment, the game had an obvious pivot point: if the Diamondbacks could hold there, the early avalanche might start to feel less permanent.

Instead, Rice and Lombard Jr. made sure it stayed a Yankee game. Rice answered in the third with a solo homer to left-center, restoring a four-run margin, and Lombard Jr. added his own solo homer in the sixth. Rice finished 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs and two RBI, the kind of all-around line that shapes an entire box score. Lombard Jr. went 2-for-4 with three RBI, driving in two during the opening inning and then tacking on another run himself later. When the Yankees needed the lead reinforced, those were the two bats that kept doing it.

There was more support than just the headliners. Paul Goldschmidt scored twice. Ramos reached twice by walk and scored twice despite not collecting a hit. Rosario added an RBI single in the first. Even with 17 runners left on base, New York produced enough important swings at the right moments to keep Arizona from making the middle innings interesting.

Cole set the tone, then the bullpen finished it cleanly

The Yankees’ offense gave Gerrit Cole room, but he still had to prevent Arizona from turning the game into a back-and-forth night. He did exactly that after Carroll’s homer. Cole worked 6.0 innings, allowed four hits and two runs, walked nobody and struck out six on 90 pitches. The no-walk line stands out most, because Arizona’s own night was undone by free baserunners while Cole offered almost none.

That control mattered because the Diamondbacks were not completely silent at the plate. Perdomo had two hits and a walk. Carroll finished with two hits and both Arizona RBI. Nolan Arenado added two hits as well. But Arizona managed only one walk all night and struck out 11 times, which meant too many of those baserunners came and went without a second hit to cash them in. Ryan Yarbrough, Michael Fulmer and Luis Gil handled the final 3.0 innings without allowing a run, and the bullpen added five strikeouts to close the door.

Our take: Arizona gave away too much, and New York can still be sharper

Our take: the Yankees won this game the convincing way and the slightly wasteful way at the same time. Scoring nine runs on eight hits shows how effectively they leveraged walks, mistakes and timely power. Leaving 17 men on base, though, is the one number that keeps this from reading like complete offensive polish. New York did not need greater efficiency on this night because the first inning was so heavy, but against a cleaner pitching line than Arizona’s six walks, one wild pitch and two errors, that missed traffic would matter more.

Our take on Arizona is more straightforward. The Diamondbacks cannot expect many better outcomes when they combine six walks, a wild pitch and two errors against a lineup that already hit two home runs. Rodriguez was charged with seven runs in 5.1 innings, and even after he exited, the seventh inning still brought a throwing error that helped the Yankees add on. If there is an encouraging detail for Arizona, it is that seven hits were enough to put runners aboard all night. The problem was conversion: 15 men left on base, only one walk earned, and no scoring after the second inning. The Yankees did not overwhelm Arizona in hit total. They were simply much better at turning extra opportunities into runs.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Rice walked, Goldschmidt scored, Ramos to second, Bellinger to third.

2. 1st Inning

   Rosario singled to center, Bellinger scored, Rice to second, Ramos to third.

3. 1st Inning

   Ramos scored on Rodriguez wild pitch, Rosario to second on wild pitch by Rodriguez, Rice to third on wild pitch by Rodriguez.

4. 1st Inning

   Ramos scored on Rodriguez wild pitch, Rosario to second on wild pitch by Rodriguez, Rice to third on wild pitch by Rodriguez.

5. 1st Inning

   Lombard Jr. singled to left, Rice scored and Rosario scored.

6. 2nd Inning

   Carroll homered to right (388 feet), Perdomo scored.

7. 3rd Inning

   Rice homered to left center (390 feet).

8. 6th Inning

   Lombard Jr. homered to left (368 feet).

9. 7th Inning

   Goldschmidt scored, McMahon safe at first on throwing error by first baseman Smith, Rice to second, Ramos to third.

10. 7th Inning

    Jones grounded into fielder's choice to second, Ramos scored, McMahon out at second, Rice to third.