Ryan Yarbrough was set to start or open Game 2 for the New York Yankees on Sunday night, giving the club a planned pitching reset after the Los Angeles Dodgers had already taken the series. The second game of the doubleheader was scheduled for 7:20 p.m. EDT at Yankee Stadium.
The matchup had already been decided in the standings sense by the time Yarbrough’s turn came around. The Dodgers won Game 1 of the doubleheader 8-2 on Sunday after taking Friday’s opener 2-1, and the series was out of reach before the nightcap began.
That is why Yarbrough’s assignment mattered. In a game built around short appearances, the Yankees were not handing the ball to one starter for the full load. Elmer Rodríguez was expected to come out of the bullpen for multiple innings, which made the plan less about a traditional start and more about who could cover the middle of the game after the opener. Will Klein was set up as the Dodgers’ opener, and Kyle Hurt was available for Los Angeles as the 27th man, a reminder that both teams were leaning on depth instead of a standard rotation script.
The shape of the night reflected how the series had played out. The Dodgers won Friday 2-1 behind Roki Sasaki’s 5 2/3 scoreless innings and Max Muncy’s two-run home run off Gerrit Cole in the seventh. On Sunday afternoon, Yoshinobu held the Yankees to two earned runs over nine innings, while Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Trent Grisham and Andy Pages helped build the 8-2 finish. Cam Schlittler took the loss for New York, allowing three earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
For Yarbrough, the immediate question was not whether he would be part of the plan, but how long that part would last. In a bullpen game, the first arm is often only the first bridge, and the Yankees’ next move depended on how quickly the game reached Rodríguez and the rest of the relief group. With the Dodgers already up in the series and the nightgame set for NBC and Peacock, the Yankees were trying to keep the second game from turning into another long evening at Yankee Stadium.
