Yankees ride five-run first to series-opening romp of Diamondbacks

Cole settled down after the Carroll dinger to give the Yankees six innings, by which time the offense all but put this game out of reach. They kept the pressure on, scoring a further four runs including solo home runs by Ben Rice and George Lombard Jr., to cruise to a series-opening victory in the desert, 9-2.

Rodriguez came into this game with an ERA above six in the first inning and an ERA right around two for the subsequent innings combined. That made it imperative that the Yankees find a way to do damage before the home team had a chance to come to bat, especially with the rate Cole is giving up the long ball. They did just that with a clear disciplined approach not to expand the zone against E-Rod's curveball.

Paul Goldschmidt drew a leadoff walk, Cody Bellinger followed with a single, and Heliot Ramos also walked to load the bases with no outs. Rice drew the Yankees' third walk in the first four batters to plate Goldschmidt and open the scoring, Goldy, Ramos, and Rice all working full counts before taking the free pass. Amed Rosario then fought off a cutter that handcuffed him up and in, muscling it to the opposite field perfectly between center and left fielder to plate Bellinger as the runners went station to station. A wild pitch allowed Ramos to score and Rice and Rosario to move up to second and third. This set up a two-run ground ball single from Lombard that just got by Geraldo Perdomo 's diving attempt to atone for his defensive misplay in the 13th that allowed the Twins to walk off the Yankees on Wednesday.