NEW YORK — Randy Vasquez allowed himself a few extra beats to enjoy the spectacle as he hurled long across Yankee Stadium early Friday night, sensing the energy of the losing crowd. d ever and will start when stepped on the hill.
Promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill the void while Domingo German completes his suspension, the 24-year-old Vasquez performed well in his debut against the stacked Padres lineup, receiving little support as the Yankees’ batters were held up in a loss. 5-1.
“When I was going over there and getting ready for the start, I took a moment and looked around,” Vasquez said through a translator. “You can see how majestic Yankee Stadium is. There were so many thoughts that came to my mind at that moment. I thank God for this opportunity and I thank my family who helped me so much to get here.”
Juan Soto impressed, hitting a long fifth-inning two-run homer in the second set from right field off Vasquez, who was rated the No. 12 prospect in the Yankees organization by MLB Pipeline.
“I felt great facing these guys,” Vazquez said. “You understand the players and, at the same time, you’re competing with these people in that moment.”
With his grandfather, uncles, and cousins amidst a celebratory gathering of 46,724 arriving on the threshold of summer to embrace the start of the weekend, Vasquez distributed four hits over 4.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px;white-space:nowrap} ⁄ innings, walking three and striking out six in an 84-pitch effort.
“I told him after the game, ‘It’s an offense to us as an insult, you don’t get a few runs when you’re up against a lineup like that,'” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “You keep them scoreless for a while, and then Soto does his thing and gets two. I was excited to see her. We have a lot of young prospects that we will see over the next two years.”
Vásquez, who was selected to Triple-A after the game, is the 12th Yankee in the last 16 seasons (since 2008) to debut as the starting pitcher. Before Jhony Brito on April 2 of this season, the most recent examples are Luis Gil (2021) and Deivi García (2020).
“We’ve been following this kid since last year, when he was in Double A,” Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza, who served as acting manager, said Friday. “We saw a little bit of him in spring training. It’s not easy to come here for the first time ever, and show up for a big league game and you’re up against a good lineup. Overall, I thought he handled it really well.”
“I found out about it about an hour before the game. Once we finished batting practice, Bonnie called me into the office and told me about it,” Mendoza said. “Honestly, I was a little surprised. I didn’t know all its details. I was just told I was managing.”
The Yanks were limited to six hits over 6 1/3 innings pitched by Padres starter Joe Musgrove, with the only run allowed by a right-hander in the sixth inning by Anthony Rizzo. The Bombers have been suspended for one run each of the past two nights, after scoring at least six runs in four of their previous five games.
“It’s just about taking advantage when we get pitches over the plate, not trying to expand too much,” said Judge, who extended his starting streak to 13 games with a sixth-inning double. “Staying in our zone, staying in our lanes. When we do that, we’re a good offense. When we expand a little bit and miss our mistakes, (the teams) are hard to beat, especially with the show staff that they have there.”
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two-run homer in second in left field against Ron Marinaccio in the sixth inning, drawing wild jeers (and some out-of-town cheers).
With twists and flexions once he got back into position, Tatis Jr. Also the ongoing commentary from fans in the right-field benches, many of whom pointed to the 80-game drug suspension he received last August.
“I think he was locked up,” Judge said. “He was able to sit on the field there and drive it around when they needed him. That’s the difference there. “