Yankees takeaways from Saturday's 3-2 win over Padres, including Isiah Kiner-Falefa's walk-off in extras

Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled in the winning run with one out in the 10th inning Saturday afternoon, lifting the Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the visiting San Diego Padres in front of a sellout crowd of 46,963.

The Yankees aren’t scoring much lately – five runs over their past three games combined – but it was enough on Saturday thanks to Luis Severino and a stingy bullpen. IKF’s single went down the third-base line through a drawn-in infield with runners on second and third.

The victory snapped the Yankees’ three-game losing streak.

Here are the key takeaways...

- Severino’s performance was a big plus for the Yankees, who have endured non-Gerrit Cole rotation issues much of the season. Severino looks like he could be a stabilizing presence after allowing two runs (one earned) and one hit over 6.2 innings in his second start back from the Injured List. He struck out five and walked three and the only hit he gave up was a solo homer to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the fourth inning, after he had retired the first 10 batters he faced. Severino hit 100 miles-per-hour with his fastball and got three swings-and-misses with the pitch, as well as seven called strikes. So far this season, Severino has delivered 11.1 innings and a 1.59 ERA. He was so efficient Saturday that he was able to get into the seventh inning despite being on a pitch count that maxed around 90.

- With two out in the seventh inning, Severino walked Nelson Cruz with his 80th pitch. Aaron Boone elected to leave him in the game and Severino got a soft grounder out of Trent Grisham, but Gleyber Torres botched it for an error. Boone replaced Severino with Michael King and King allowed an RBI single to Ha-Seong Kim that delivered an unearned run that put San Diego ahead, 2-1.

- DJ LeMahieu, who entered the game batting .250 this season, thrived against Padres starter Michael Wacha. LeMahieu entered the game 7-for-18 (.389) lifetime against the righty and doubled against him in the first and smacked a solo homer against him in the seventh that knotted the score at 2. The Yankees had not homered in their previous two games before LeMahieu’s blast.

- The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and actually had a chance for more. Aaron Judge hit a one-out single to extend his on-base streak to 14 consecutive games. Judge mashed the ball toward the left-field corner – it was measured at 114.6 miles-per-hour off the bat, according to Baseball Savant. But he hit it so hard that he was able to get only a single. Anthony Rizzo, who came into the game batting .412 lifetime against Wacha, lined a single to center to put runners on first and third. LeMahieu doubled to left to knock in Judge, but Rizzo was thrown out trying to score from first.

- In the fourth inning, Tatis Jr., a “popular” figure among Yankee fans, smacked his ninth home run since returning from his suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, a long drive to left field that traveled 426 feet and tied the score at 1-1. Tatis, who also homered Friday night after being jeered in the outfield, was booed as he went around the bases.

- Anthony Volpe was dropped to ninth in the Yankee lineup for the first time since April 15. The rookie shortstop batted ninth for his first 10 games this season and 12 of the first 15 before a long string of leadoff opportunities. More recently, he’s seen most of his chances come at sixth or seventh. Volpe, 22, entered Saturday’s game in a 2-for-23 (.087) skid, but Aaron Boone said he was not worried about Volpe’s confidence.

- The Yankees called up lefty Matt Krook and he was active for Saturday’s game. He took Randy Vasquez’s roster spot – Vasquez was sent down after starting Friday night. Krook, a 28-year-old whose first appearance would be his Major League debut, has toiled in the minors since 2016. In 12 relief outings for Triple-A Scranton this season, he had a 1.04 ERA and allowed only five hits in 17.1 innings while striking out 34 and walking 12.

“He’s hard to hit,” Boone said before the game. “And especially hard to hit for lefties…He’s got a lot of deception, a lot of swing and miss.”

Boone added that Krook was in “serious consideration” for a postseason roster spot last year.

Highlights

What’s Next

The Yankees wrap up their three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.

Gerrit Cole will take the mound for the Yanks, and go up against fellow ace Yu Darvish for the Padres.