Yankees.com: Goldy thrives in a pinch, Judge clubs No. 15 to seal win

From Josh Kirshenbaum:

Five thousand and twenty-five days ago, Ben Rice and Will Warren were both 11 years old. Aaron Boone was working for ESPN, just two years removed from the end of his own playing career. The Yankees beat the Angels, with Mariano Rivera earning his 30th save of the season.

And Paul Goldschmidt, in his rookie season with the D-backs, hit a home run in his first career pinch-hit at-bat — his only pinch-hit home run until the Yankees’ 3-2 win over Seattle on Wednesday.

That was all the way back on Aug. 11, 2011. Wednesday in Seattle, Goldschmidt stepped up to the plate to lead off the top of the seventh, hitting for J.C. Escarra, and launched the first pitch he saw from lefty reliever Gabe Speier a projected 377 feet to left field, tying the game up at 2-2 with his second pinch-hit home run.

“It’s just impressive,” Aaron Judge said. “It shows you the type of player he is and the knowledge he has. His preparation to where he was ready to go from the very first pitch, and he put a great swing on it.”

The gap is the longest between pinch-hit home runs since Todd Helton ended a 14-year drought on April 29, 2012.

The homer brought Goldschmidt’s batting average up to .346 and his OPS up to .901. He’s hitting a league-best .571 against left-handed pitchers, with five doubles and four home runs.

That was a really nice fucking win.

Volpe and Dominguez getting a run on back-to-back doubles after Castillo was cruising (I would have brought in a lefty to neutralize Dominguez, but whatever), then the pinch-hit home run, and then Judge winning it. So cool. Plus great relief pitching from Cruz and Weaver following another outstanding start by Warren.

Warren’s ERA should be even lower than 4.61, as the official scorer bizarrely changed the error in the third to a base hit. Tavares was clearly out if Rice catches that ball normally. What a terrible scoring decision to turn two unearned runs into two earned runs. Blech.

Now we have an offday before the Mets come to town and a certain former Yankee gets to see the fans react to his return. Hopefully Luis Torrens is prepared for the fan reaction.

Featured image is Warren’s fifth K in a row, as he set down the first six batters of the game.