Will Warren has shown the ability to rack up strikeouts, but sometimes that has come at the expense of efficiency.
On Saturday, he accomplished both.
Warren tied a career high with 11 strikeouts while completing seven strong innings in a 13-4 win over the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
The right-hander, who had only made it through five innings once in his first four starts of the season, went deep Saturday while mowing down the Royals and yielding no runs until the seventh.
“Our job as a starter is to go as long as possible and get as many outs,” said Warren, who did not make it out of the fourth inning in his last start against the Angels. “I hadn’t been doing that to the standard that I hold myself. So today was really nice to go out there and do that.”
It marked only the second time in Warren’s young career that he has pitched at least seven innings, while notching double-digit strikeouts for the third time.
He did so without walking a batter, getting ahead of the Royals all afternoon and using it to his advantage.
“What’s stood out to me is how much swing-and-miss he is getting with his fastball,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s got a unique delivery and slot that allows that to play. He’s a better pitcher now than he was last year and the end of last year and he keeps growing.”
The Royals swung at Warren’s four-seamer 26 times Saturday and whiffed on seven of them.
He also caught them looking for five of his strikeouts, keeping them guessing with his sinker and changeup that both ran away from their left-handed hitters.
“When he’s in the zone, he’s lights out,” catcher J.C. Escarra said.
The Yankees are still at least a few weeks away from having to make any decisions on their rotation, assuming all five starters stay healthy before Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole potentially return from the injured list at some point in May.
But with outings like Saturday, which lowered his ERA to 2.49 through five starts, Warren continued to make a case that he should keep his spot in the rotation regardless.
“I think everything was moving good and then just execution overall was good,” said Warren, who also picked off Bobby Witt Jr. at first base to help ensure a shutdown inning in the fourth after being given a 5-0 lead.
“The sinker is going to generate a lot of ground balls. We look at our game plan and we have a team that’s going to be aggressive like [the Royals] and the Angels, typically you’re going to have more strikeouts. … If I can go out there and throw three pitches and get three ground balls, I’d love that.”
