The Yankees’ 6-4 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night came with plenty of swing-and-miss - 17 strikeouts, to be exact - but the bigger problem was the same one that keeps showing up in the rotation.
Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Caballero both took golden sombreros, and New York still had chances to turn the game around. Instead, Will Warren put the Yankees in a hole they never escaped.
Warren’s line was more evidence that the right-hander hasn’t taken a real step forward. His ERA sits at 4.15, which isn’t far off the 4.44 mark he finished with last year. Through 18 starts in 2026, the pattern has stayed frustratingly familiar: too much contact, too many pitches left over the middle, and too many moments where the game gets away from him.
The stuff hasn’t helped him out, either. His sinker and sweeper have been poor, while his changeup has been effective - just not used enough. The result has been a starter who isn’t building momentum, isn’t locating consistently, and isn’t giving the Yankees the kind of innings they need most.
That’s been especially damaging since Max Fried’s injury. Warren hasn’t finished six innings since May 31, and New York is 2-4 in his last six starts.
Even in the two wins, he allowed multi-run leads to slip away. He has only one quality start against a top-10 offense, and that came against the Astros.
Tuesday was more of the same. Warren gave up home runs to Victor Mesa Jr., who is hitting .188 with a .350 slugging percentage, and Hunter Feduccia, who had one home run in his first 92 MLB games.
The Yankees’ strikeout issues are real, but Warren’s struggles are becoming a separate problem altogether. There had been some thought that Brian Cashman could use him in a package at the 2026 deadline for an impact player. Warren alone wouldn’t have brought that back, but he could have been part of something bigger.
That idea looks a lot shakier now. More than half of his season has been hard to trust, and he hasn’t been asked to carry a major load.
With the rotation still deep despite the injuries, Warren has been a back-end arm. If he can’t handle that role, it’s fair to wonder why another team would see him differently.
Warren was blunt after the game and admitted he’s in a rough stretch. That has been the case for weeks. At this point, the ask doesn’t feel unreasonable: one quality start in his last six outings against offenses sitting in the bottom half of the league.
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