José Caballero’s walk-off hit rallies Yankees past Angels
NEW YORK – In a blockbuster series in which Aaron Judge and Mike Trout have relished trading MVP-caliber blows, inspiring awe among their teammates while even impressing each other, José Caballero took a turn playing the hero on Wednesday evening.
Caballero laced a two-run double facing Jordan Romano as the Yankees capitalized on a missed catch, fueling a ninth-inning rally as they came from behind to walk off the Angels, 5-4, at Yankee Stadium.
After left fielder Bryce Teodosio made a stellar defensive play to rob Giancarlo Stanton of extra bases, Angels third baseman Oswald Peraza and shortstop Zach Neto failed to communicate on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. pop-up that dropped for a hit.
Austin Wells walked, and Caballero delivered the deciding hit, with an aggressive send by third-base coach Luis Rojas giving Wells the green light to slide in safely around a tag from catcher Logan O’Hoppe.
Judge got the Yankees’ offense rolling with his seventh home run of the season and the 375th of his career, a solo first-inning blast off Jack Kochanowicz – and his third homer of the series. Trent Grisham inflated the lead with a two-run single in the second inning, but Luis Gil couldn’t hold the cushion.
Making his second start of the year, the right-hander served up solo homers to Adam Frazier and O’Hoppe. He grooved a fifth-inning fastball to Trout, who crushed a Statcast-projected 383-foot drive over Judge into the right-center-field seats.
It was the fourth home run of the series for Trout, a Millville, N.J., product who became the first visiting player since Miguel Cabrera (2013) to homer in three consecutive games at the current Yankee Stadium.
Yankees pitchers have permitted eight homers in the past two games after surrendering just five over their first 16. Through two starts, Gil has not been able to miss bats at the same rate he did in 2024, when he was the American League Rookie of the Year.
