Yankees beat Orioles with ease on Friday behind Ben Rice, Will Warren

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 01: Will Warren #29 of the New York Yankees pitches during the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday, May 1, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images Spearheaded by a fantastic effort from Will Warren, the Yankees took early command of their first regular-season matchup against the Orioles in 2026, ultimately winning it 7-2. Specifically on Warren, seeing the front-level starters dominating is all well and good, but the built-in expectations may work against the excitement of it in certain instances.

Although early, seeing a pitcher like Warren coming together to truly maximize his skill set—as it appears we’re doing—is the kind of thing we love to witness over the course of a 162-game regular season. Immediately after being handed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, Warren coughed it up in the type of manner that could shake his confidence. Not often in baseball do you get no-doubter opposite-field home runs, but that’s exactly what Pete Alonso delivered against the Yankees starter, evening things up in the second.

Fulfilling the phrase that you’re only as good as the team around you, Warren enjoyed a little support right after that moment. It would’ve been one thing had he spent a prolonged period pitching with a tie game, but the Yankees quickly took control of this one, pouncing on Orioles starter Cade Povich, who simply didn’t have it on Friday night. It was the home team’s turn to leave the yard in the third inning, firstly with a José Caballero solo shot and then a three-run bomb from Ben Rice.

View Link It’s fitting that these are the two players who would come up big, as they represent the two types of hitters who will determine how dangerous the Yankees lineup is against left-handed pitching—Rice as the primary of a group of lefties who can take their game to the next level if they’re able to put up solid numbers against same-handed pitching and Caballero, who is one of the complementary pieces that need to maximize on platoon advantages. As it turned out, that home run Alonso hit would end up representing a third of the Orioles’ hits against Warren, who took full advantage of a commanding lead from the third inning onwards and shut down Baltimore. Relying less heavily on the fastball than his season norm, and utilizing all three of his off-speed pitches, Warren earned nine strikeouts—the last of them on a terrific challenge from Wells, overturning a backdoor 2-2 sinker against Taylor Ward that had been originally called a ball in the sixth inning.