The Bronx held its collective breath Saturday night when Anthony Volpe hit the dirt and clutched his left shoulder.
It wasn’t just the pain that rattled the Yankees—it was the pop he felt, and the uncertainty that followed.
Just days after losing Jazz Chisholm to an oblique strain, the idea of Volpe going down felt like a gut punch.
Luckily for the New York Yankees, X-rays came back clean, and Volpe stayed in the game to finish what he started.
Unfortunately, what he started ended with a costly mistake that directly swung the game in Tampa Bay’s favor.
The error that changed everything
In the eighth inning with two men on, Volpe had a golden opportunity to turn an inning-ending double play.
Instead, he misplayed the ground ball up the middle—one he’s fielded countless times before—and a run scored.
It wasn’t a routine chopper, but for a player who ranks among the best defensive shortstops, it was makeable.
That error became the difference as the Rays edged the Yankees 3–2, stealing one that felt winnable for most.
When you have elite defenders, the standard gets elevated, and Volpe knows better than anyone what that play meant.
Yankees pitching kept them in it despite late scratch
The Yankees were already behind the eight ball before the first pitch when Clarke Schmidt was scratched from his start.
Ryan Yarbrough stepped up and gave them exactly what they needed—four innings of one-hit, one-run baseball.
The bullpen followed with mostly clean work until Mark Leiter Jr. surrendered two earned runs in the eighth.
Those runs may never have scored if Volpe had made the play, which adds salt to the wound.
Still, it’s hard to be upset with a pitching staff that allowed just three runs under short-notice circumstances.
Volpe’s offense continues to show growth despite inconsistency
While the spotlight fell on his defensive miscue, Volpe’s offensive numbers suggest a breakout could be on the horizon.
He’s currently slashing .233/.326/.442 with five home runs—his highest power metrics since arriving in the majors.
Volpe is making more quality contact and has improved his approach, though like most young players, streakiness remains.
There’s maturity in his at-bats now, and even on a night that ended in frustration, that long-term development matters.
He may not be an All-Star yet, but Volpe is flashing enough tools to believe something bigger is coming.
Popular Reading
Yankees 2, Rays 3: Good news and bad news after Anthony Volpe’s miscue leads to heartbreaking loss
!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“has-featured-video”,”true”)})}();var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({“div”:”Brid_2109985″,”obj”:{“id”:”30505″,”width”:”1280″,”height”:”720″,”stickyDirection”:”below”,”video”:”2109985″,”poster”:”https://empiresportsmedia.com/wp-content/plugins/tpd-addons/blocks/featured-video/src/img/1×1-white.png”}});https://player.target-video.com/player/build/targetvideo.min.js