Yankees exploit Cardinals' miscues in four-run 9th to finish sweep

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Aug 17, 2025

Published in Baseball

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The New York Yankees had a need for speed.

That’s why they acquired the pesky José Caballero before last month’s trade deadline, identifying him as a versatile weapon who could wreak havoc on the basepaths.

That vision came to fruition in Sunday afternoon’s 8-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Caballero manufactured the go-ahead run as the Yankees (67-57) scored four times in the ninth inning to cap a three-game sweep at Busch Stadium.

“I’m trying to make [opponents] hate me,” Caballero, who came from the Tampa Bay Rays, told reporters Sunday. “I don’t want them to like me. I’m just trying to mess with them. I don’t want them to have the full attention on what they’re doing. I’d rather them have a little more attention on me.”

With the score tied, 4-4, Caballero led off the ninth against reliever JoJo Romero with a high chopper to second baseman Thomas Saggese.

Seemingly aware of Caballero’s speed, Saggese rushed his throw and hurled it wide of first base, allowing Caballero to reach safely and advance to second on the error.

Caballero then moved to third on a passed ball, and three batters later, he was the first of two baserunners to score when a Cody Bellinger grounder snuck through a pulled-in infield.

“I told him, ‘I hated playing against you,’ because it was hard,” Paul Goldschmidt told YES Network of Caballero after Sunday’s win. “He plays such good defense. He has such good at-bats. He steals bags. [He] put the pressure on the defense right there and forced them to probably be a little quick and make a mistake.”

Saggese was charged with his second error of the inning on Bellinger’s two-run grounder, which gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead. Jazz Chisholm Jr. added a run-scoring force out and Goldschmidt tacked on an RBI double to wrap up the rally.

The Yankees recorded only one hit in the ninth, and all four runs were unearned.

“The value of putting the ball in play there in the end, and taking advantage of the mistakes,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The afternoon got off to a heartfelt start when Goldschmidt tipped his helmet to a St. Louis crowd that gave him a standing ovation before his first at-bat.

Goldschmidt spent the previous six seasons with the Cardinals, with whom he won National League MVP in 2022, but a low-grade right knee sprain prevented him from starting Friday or Saturday’s games.

The 37-year-old Goldschmidt went 3 for 5 with an RBI on Sunday.

His fourth-inning double was the first of four consecutive hits against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas as the Yankees went up, 3-0, after back-to-back-to-back RBI singles from Jasson Domínguez, Ryan McMahon and Caballero.

But the lead would not last long.

McMahon committed a fielding error at third base to begin the bottom of the fourth, allowing Iván Herrera to reach. Four batters later, Saggese lined a two-out, two-run double off of Yankees starter Will Warren to cut the Cardinals’ deficit to 3-2.

The bottom of the fifth started in similar fashion, with Chisholm making a diving stop on a Lars Nootbaar grounder to second, only to throw the ball away. Nootbaar was credited with an infield single and moved to second on Chisholm’s throwing error.

Alec Burleson followed with a one-out RBI single to tie the score, 3-3.

The game was a grind for the rookie Warren, who gave up three runs (one earned) over 4 2/3 innings and 95 pitches. It was the first time in five starts that Warren allowed more than two runs or failed to finish five innings.

St. Louis took a 4-3 lead in the sixth when Yohel Pozo smoked a solo home run off of reliever Camilo Doval, but the Yankees answered with a Bellinger sacrifice fly in the seventh.

In the end, the Yankees emerged with their first series sweep since July 7-9, when they won all three games against the Seattle Mariners in the Bronx.

“I think we know we’re a good team,” Boone said. “We believe that, even through some of the down times and some dark moments of the season. I don’t think we’ve ever lost that confidence. Look, we’re capable of this. We’ve got to go prove it though.”

It was a productive day for the Yankees, as the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians all lost.

That allowed the Yankees to move within 5 1/2 games of the Jays in the AL East and within a half-game of Boston in the division and wild card races. The Yankees are now 3 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland for the AL’s third and final wild card spot.

The Yankees are off Monday before they begin a two-game series against the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. It’s the Yankees’ second trip of the season to Steinbrenner Field — their spring training ballpark — which the Rays are renting after Hurricane Milton damaged Tropicana Field.

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