ANAHEIM, Calif. — Yankees manager Aaron Boone is becoming more and more fond of the 33-year-old lefty who was promoted from long relief to fifth starter in early May.
Ryan Yarbrough is a old-school pitcher who gets outs with a variety of quality soft-tossing stuff that includes 87-88 mph four-seamers and sweepers that usually don’t touch 70.
The danger, of course, is guys who don’t throw hard can give up homers, and that’s what happened Monday night when Angels leadoff hitter Zach Neto rocketed a 2-2, 78-changeup over the center-field wall for a 1-0 lead.
But after that, Yarbrough put on a clinic pitching a two-hitter over six innings with seven strikeouts in a 5-1 Yankees’ Memorial Day night win at Angel Stadium.
“It’s a different look,” Boone said of Yarbrough, who was pulled after a season-high 88 pitches. “It’s different from pretty much everything you see. You see, typically speaking, so many big arms nowadays, whether it’s a big fastball, big breaking ball, whatever.
“He’s 6-foot-5 with elbows and knees and some deception in the delivery. He changes speeds really well. He has a number of different pitches. He uses both sides of the plate up and down.
“I really like watching him pitch and watching him go about it, and here in 2025 it’s a different way of doing it.”
Yarbrough takes pride in having success his way.
“I’ve never been the guy to just blow up a radar gun, so I’ve had to understand getting guys out,” he said. “Hearing feedback from guys, it’s just a different look. It’s a little unorthodox, not something they’re used to seeing every day.”
Yarbrough is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts since joining the rotation when Carlos Carrasco was designated for assignment. Counting eight relief outings, he has a 3.06 ERA.
“He’s become an important part of the staff,” Boone said. “He’s been just so key for us. Early on, it was giving us three innings on a day we needed three innings. Right now he’s serving that role in the rotation and he’s done a really good job for us.”
The Yankees picked up Yarbrough at the end of spring training for one year at $2 million after he opted out of a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays to become a free agent.
The Yankees were looking for a reliever who could give them multiple innings and they saw Yarbrough do that throughout his career, especially when he was with the division-rival Rays from his rookie season in 2018 through 2022.
“I’ve always admired him from across the field,” Boone said. “We’ve played against him a lot. He’s pitched some good games against us along the way and pitched in a lot of different roles.
“Now getting to be around him, he’s just got a really good demeaner about him, a really good disposition. He’s confident in his ability. He knows he does it a different way.”
The Yankees used a four-run fourth inning to wipe out the early deficit, the big hit a three-run double by Anthony Volpe that broke a 1-1 tie.
Angels 6-foot-7 righty starter Jack Kochanowicz (3-6) was perfect through three innings, but got into a big jam in the fourth when Ben Rice, Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge singled to load the bases with nobody out.
Cody Bellinger walked on four pitches to tie the game, then Volpe cleared the bases blasting a grooved, 0-2 fastball to deep center that one-hopped the wall, making it 4-1 Yanks.
The win was the Yankees’ 14th in their last 18 games and kept them six games up on the Rays for first place in the AL East.
“Every night we’re going out with confidence in each other,” Volpe said. “We feel really good about the brand of baseball we’re playing.”
They feel really good when their soft-tosser’s turn comes up, too.
“He’s really fun to watch,” Boone said of Yarbrough. “Neto really stung one to open the game with the the homer. To be able to give us six strong like that, it was a great tone-setter for the series.”
NOTABLE
— Pitching in a non-save situation, Luke Weaver pitched around a one-out walk and two-out single to seal the victory.
— Austin Wells drove in the Yankees’ fifth run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.
— Volpe and Wells have 31 RBIs apiece 53 games into the Yankees’ season. That’s a 95-RBI pace over a full season.
— Luis Gil (lat strain) is scheduled to return to throwing off the mound on Friday in Tampa.
— Fernando Cruz (shoulder) will throw a bullpen on Wednesday in Anaheim and could be off the IL by next week.
— Second baseman Jazz Chisholm (oblique) and Giancarlo Stanton (tennis elbows) are in Tampa to get at-bats in simulated games this week. Chisholm might be back with the Yankees by next week, while Stanton potentially could be off the IL the following week.
LOOKING AHEAD
Tuesday: Yankees at Angels, 9:38 p.m., YES, EST. LHP Carlos Rodon (6-3, 2.88) vs. LHP Tyler Anderson (2-1, 3.60).
Wednesday: Yankees at Angels, 9:38 p.m., YES, EST. RHP Clarke Schmidt (1-2, 4.58) vs. LHP Yusei Kikuchi (1-4, 3.17).