Yankees' Will Warren: Past tough outings make first MLB win 'even sweeter'

On a day that the Yankees lost a rotation piece for a few weeks, they can breathe a sigh of relief after Will Warren pitched arguably his best game as a big leaguer on Saturday.

Against a formidable Giants team, Warren allowed just two runs on two hits and two walks in five innings pitched en route to his first major league win.

"Big accomplishment. Waiting a while to get that one off the table," Warren said after the game. "So fun. I'm just glad the team won."

Saturday was Warren's eighth start of his career, and the third this season, but the 25-year-old can finally say he has a big league win under his belt. Not bad for a pitcher who was not pegged to make the team out of spring training.

Of course, injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt helped facilitate Warren breaking camp with the team, but a strong spring made him the perfect candidate to start the year with the team and he's been solid since earning the spot. Of his three starts this year, two of them saw him give up two runs or fewer. And for Saturday, it was especially important for Warren to give the Yankees a good outing after Marcus Stroman was unable to pitch out of the first inning and manager Aaron Boone had to burn a few relievers in their loss on Friday. But the Yankees skipper was more impressed with how he pitched instead of how long.

"I'm really excited for him. Just did a good job mixing his pitches, for the most part dictating counts," Boone said. "I felt like he had a lot of ahead-in-the-count. I thought he had a lot of useful pitches throughout, even when he was ahead. And then a couple situations where he really had to make a pitch. He did it."

The only blemish to Warren's day was in the second inning when Heliot Ramos smoked a double and Wilmer Flores followed with a two-run home run to give up the Yankees' early lead. Both Warren and Boone felt the elements helped the Giants in that area a bit but after Flores' home run, Warren settled in nicely.

Warren would retire the next 10 batters in a row and 11 of his final 12. The young right-hander credited Austin Wells and the game plan for his outing, while Boone points to Warren's execution of his pitches as a big reason for the win.

"Overall, I just thought the slider was good," Boone said. "I thought there was a little more life to the sinker and I thought he did a good job of mixing his sinker with his four seamer too."

It's a great story for a pitcher who was thrust into the rotation last year due to injuries and didn't execute. In six games (five starts) in 2024, Warren allowed four or more runs four times. He pitched to a 10.32 ERA and a 1.90 WHIP.

But that experience makes this season and his first win mean even more.

"Learned a lot, been through a lot of tough outings but I think, that's what makes this one even sweeter," Warren said. "You learn from it, move on and try to get better each day." 

Warren added, "There's a lot of guys in this clubhouse you lean on and learn from, as well as breaking down each outing every week. I don't know how much better I've gotten. I think it's still the same. I think it's the process of knowing what to do, when to do and executing it."

The Yankees hope Warren's first major league win leads to much more. With Stroman being placed on the IL, Warren -- who could have potentially be demoted to make room for the returning Schmidt -- will be in the rotation to stay, at least for now.