The Yankees beat the Phillies 3–1 on Saturday in Philadelphia

The Yankees beat the Phillies 3–1 on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia and now have five wins in their last six games. The pitching has allowed one run or less in four of the last five wins.

The Yankees have won three games in a row going back to the last game of the Pirates series and have allowed just one run in those three games. The Yankees have outscored the opposition 6–1 in the three games. This is the first time in franchise history that the Yankees have a three-game span with three wins, six or fewer runs scored and 15 or fewer hits.

The pitching has led the Yankees to win the first two games of this series in Philadelphia. The offense has scored just one total run in the two games. Cam Schlittler threw 7.1 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts in the first game of the series. In Saturday’s win, Ryan Weathers had a good bounce back start as he allowed just one earned run in 5.1 innings after allowing five earned runs with one homer in 4.2 innings in his previous start. Weathers’ ERA went down from 4.40 to 4.25 in this start on Saturday.

The only run that Weathers allowed was a sacrifice fly RBI by former number one overall draft pick and nine-time All-Star Bryce Harper in the first inning. Harper’s sacrifice fly scored Trea Turner, who was hit by a pitch to leadoff the bottom of the first inning. Kyle Schwarber had a double to put runners on second and third before Harper’s sacrifice fly. Weathers allowed two consecutive singles by Turner and Schwarber to begin the third inning but then got a double play and then a line out to right by Alec Bohm to end the bottom of the third inning.

It was a promising bounce back performance by Weathers. Weathers threw a really good 87 mph 3–2 changeup to strikeout Edmundo Sosa for the second out of the 6th inning. Bryan De La Cruz then got to first since Weathers was late to getting to first and he dropped the flip from Paul Goldschmidt. That was Weathers last batter. Weathers had seven strikeouts, which were his most strikeouts in a start since June 18 (he had made five starts since then).

Austin Wells had a 430 foot homer in the 3rd inning to give the Yankees a 1–0 lead. That was the longest homer of his career. He went 1–2 with a walk and two runs scored in this game. Wells is now 4–7 with two walks in his last three games after going 4–40 with three walks in his previous 16 games.

Goldschmidt had a single in the 6th on a fly ball into shallow left since Turner could not make a basket catch running away from the infield. Bellinger then had an RBI single up the middle to easily score Wells from second. The Phillies have the worst DRS in the league. Bohm got an error with two outs in the 6th inning since he dropped Trent Grisham’s foul ball between home and third to extend the at-bat. Grisham then grounded out to second to end the 6th inning.

Jasson Dominguez had a hard hit 420 foot 105.6 mph exit velocity homer to leadoff the seventh. He is much improved against lefties. Dominguez has a .267 average and a .740 OPS in 60 at-bats against lefties this season after having a .204 average and a .569 OPS against lefties last season in 93 at-bats. Dominguez is on a six-game hitting streak and has one hit in each of those six games. After Dominguez’s homer, Jazz Chisholm struck out swinging for his third strikeout of the game. Jose Caballero then had a bunt single to third and advanced to second on a wild throw by Bohm. Ryan McMahon flied out to left to end the 7th.

Paul Blackburn retired the side in order in the 7th and he did well covering first to get the third out. Blackburn did not allow a run in the eighth inning and has now allowed just one run in his last 15 games in a span of 24.1 innings. He has done well in a variety of roles out of the bullpen. In his last 15 games, he has 18 strikeouts, seven walks and just six hits allowed. Blackburn, who was a first round pick all the way back in 2012, has a dominant 1.93 ERA in his 36 games this season with a 1.036 WHIP and a 218 ERA+.

Cody Bellinger, who doubled to center with two outs in the eighth was stranded at second in the 8th since Trent Grisham grounded out to end the inning. He hurt his hamstring as he was rounding first and running to second. He slid into second on his double. He stayed in the game for Grisham’s at-bat but when he was walking off of the field he motioned to manager Aaron Boone that he needed to leave the game and go to to the locker room. Bellinger has played in 102 out of 104 games this season.

Bellinger is very valuable since he plays all three outfield positions well (and also plays first base) and he has been productive on offense this season with a .350 OBP, 11 homers, 21 doubles and a 116 OPS+. Bellinger went 2–4 in this game and that extended his hitting streak to six games. He is 8–20 with a double and two RBI during the hitting streak. However, Bellinger has not had homer in 32 consecutive games. The most consecutive games that he has gone without hitting a homer in his 10 season career is 33 games. Bellinger was placed on the 10-day injured list on Sunday due to a hamstring strain.

Justin Crawford, whose father Carl led the American League in steals four times, had a swinging bunt groundout to Blackburn to end the 8th. Carl’s 480 steals in his career are 43rd most all time. Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar is in 44th place with 474 steals. The active leader in steals is Starling Marte, who is in 100th place all time with 363 steals.

Phillies closer Jhoan Duran had 12.1 inning scoreless streak coming into this game. He has five different pitches and throws up to 102 mph. Chisholm struck out looking in 9th on a knuckle curve for his fourth strikeout of the game, which gave him a Golden Sombrero. Caballero then struck out swinging on a 90 mph sweeper to end the top of the 9th. Duran retired the side in order with three strikeouts and has an outstanding 1.29 ERA in 37 games with 53 strikeouts in 35 innings and a 356 ERA+. He was an All-Star for the first time this season in his fifth MLB season.

The bullpen was outstanding again in this win. The bullpen did not allow a run in 3.1 innings while allowing just one walk and one hit. Angel Chivilli came into the game with two outs in the 6th after Weathers was taken out of the game. His changeup has been outstanding this season, and he has thrown that pitch 42 percent of the time. His first batter was J.T. Realmuto, who is now on a 10-game hitting streak and is an impressive 14–32 with six RBI in those 10 games. Realmuto had an off the end of the bat weakly hit single to shallow left center. Chivilli then got Bryson Stott to fly out to Bellinger in foul territory to end the 6th. Chivilli has a stellar 0.77 ERA in his 10 games this season after allowing just one earned run in 11.2 innings.

David Bednar has back-to-back saves to begin the series and he retired the side in order with 11 of his 16 pitches being strikes. Bednar now has 20 straight appearances with at least one inning pitched and zero runs allowed. That’s the longest streak in Yankees history. He also retired the side in order in the first game of the series. In his last 23.2 innings in those 20 games he has lowered his ERA from 5.14 to 2.42.

Caballero made a really good throw to first for the first out of the bottom of the ninth. Bednar then fielded a softly hit grounder and ran to first for the second out. There was Let’s Go Yankees chant with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Pinch hitter Brandon Marsh, who has a .152 average and a .222 OBP in his 18 games in July, had routine groundout to shortstop to end the game. Marsh was an All-Star for the first time in his six MLB seasons but has not been hitting like an All-Star in July. Bednar has been perfect in his two games to begin this series.

It was a bullpen game for the Phillies. Tim Mayza, who threw 15 games for the Yankees in 2024, was perfect in his two innings pitched to start the game. Phillies pitcher Brian Keller made his MLB debut. Keller pitched the next three innings and allowed just two hits. The only run he allowed was Wells’s solo homer. He missed the 2024 and 2025 seasons due to arm surgeries. He was a 39th round pick by the Yankees back in 2016 and pitched in the Yankees organization through the 2021 season.

De La Cruz, who had 15 homers and 14 doubles at Triple-A Scranton in the Yankees organization last season, had a single with one out in 4th for the Phillies. He signed with the Phillies organization in the offseason and this was his second game this season at the Major League level with the Phillies after playing 84 games at Triple-A with Lehigh Valley. He had 19 doubles and an .806 OPS with the Ironpigs.

Ben Rice went 0–4 with two strikeouts in this game. He has 30 homers in his 99 games this season after having 26 homers in his 138 games last season with the Yankees. Aaron Judge (first round in 2013), Jorge Posada (24th round in 1990), Mike Pagliarulo (6th round in 1981), Don Mattingly (19th round in 1979) and Rice (12th round in 2021) are the only Yankees draft picks to hit 30 home runs with the team.