George Lombard Jr. enjoyed a memorable debut for the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
Now the Yankees are intrigued to see what kind of follow-up performance Lombard delivers on Wednesday night when they host the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a three-game series.
The Yankees are 10-6 in their past 16 games after evening the series with a 2-0 victory. Lombard joined the team after the Yankees used Jose Caballero and Anthony Volpe at shortstop for most of the season.
Lombard went 1-for-2 and hit his first career homer against Hunter Dobbins with one out in the fifth inning. The 21-year-old also turned a pair of double plays in the second and fifth innings.
“Obviously a great first night for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The home run was great. The defense was tremendous.”
Lombard is coming off becoming the 14th player in team history to homer in his major league debut. The last was Jasson Dominguez on Sept. 1, 2023, and the list includes injured captain Aaron Judge and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra.
“It was really cool,” Lombard said. “Being a close game, it was a big run. So it was probably a moment, a swing, a day I won’t forget.”
The Cardinals are coming off their 13th loss in 18 games.
St. Louis was without Jordan Walker, who was a late scratch due to right knee inflammation. Walker has missed three games all season, and the All-Star outfielder may sit out Wednesday ahead of an off day in the schedule.
“I’ll find out more when he comes in tomorrow, but just knee inflammation, day-to-day,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Walker. “Our hope is that he’s good to go tomorrow, but we’ll see what it looks like.”
While Walker may be out, Alec Burleson will be back in the starting lineup after sitting against left-hander Ryan Weathers. Burleson belted three two-run homers in Monday’s 13-7 win, and his lone plate appearance Tuesday was an intentional walk in the eighth inning as a pinch hitter.
After getting six scoreless innings from Weathers, New York right-hander Will Warren (8-5, 4.14 ERA) attempts to win consecutive starts for the third time this season and first time since May 12-19. He pitched 6 2/3 innings of four-hit ball on Friday and he struck out seven in New York’s 2-0 win over the host Chicago Cubs.
Before his second-longest outing of the season, Warren was 0-4 with a 6.45 ERA in his previous nine appearances.
Warren is 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals
Right-hander Andre Pallante (11-6, 3.72), who is 1-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his past three starts, will get the start on Wednesday for the Cardinals. Pallante has allowed two runs or fewer in 13 starts, including Thursday’s 10-inning loss to the Cubs, when he allowed two runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Pallante is 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA in three career appearances against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
