Anthony Rieber: Will Warren continues Yankees' pitching dominance in nearly flawless home opener
Yankees starter Will Warren pitches during the first inning against the Miami Marlins on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
About the only thing that went wrong for the Yankees on Friday at the 2026 home opener was that they ill-advisedly used up their two automated ball-strike (ABS) challenges by the fifth inning.
Other than that, the Yankees’ 8-2 victory over Miami was nearly a study in pinstriped perfection. And it all started with the guy who threw the first pitch, Will Warren.
It was Warren’s first home start wearing uniform No. 29, which he switched to from 98 before his first outing of the season in San Francisco.
Warren made the move in honor of his late cousin, Nathan Griffith, who died in a boating accident in 2021. Griffith wore 29 as a pitcher in high school.
“He’s always with me out there, especially since the number change,” Warren told Newsday. “It’s special to me and I can feel the weight that it carries for my family, which is really, really cool and an honor for me to wear.”
Warren allowed two runs in 5 2⁄3 innings on a pair of solo homers.
In that way, he unknowingly channeled the greatest Yankee to ever wear No. 29, Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter.
Hunter allowed 374 home runs during his 15-year career; 250 of them came with the bases empty. He was of the belief that solo home runs don’t beat you, and his 224 wins and plaque in Cooperstown show he knew what he was talking about.
“My three brothers taught me to throw strikes,” Hunter, who averaged 2.5 walks per nine innings, said when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987. “And thanks to them, I gave up 374 home runs in the big leagues.”
Said Warren: “Solo homers aren’t going to beat us.”
Warren has a long journey ahead of him to get to the Hall of Fame, or even be around long enough to give up hundreds of homers. But the 26-year-old righthander is continuing to grow as part of the Yankees’ 6-1 start.
“I thought he handled all that comes with this day very well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He was, I think, having fun, very much in the moment, and calm and under control. I think the experience he’s gained over the last couple years have served him well to know how to navigate these spots where he had a tendency to be a little charged up.”
Warren, who gave up four hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out six, is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA. Yankees starters have given up only four runs in 39 1⁄3 innings in the team’s first seven games.
“I think it’s friendly competition,” Warren said. “Every guy wants to keep it rolling.”
During pregame introductions, injured starters Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon were greeted with hearty applause from the sellout crowd of 48,788.
Cole, during an in-game interview with Meredith Marakovits on YES, said of the Yankees’ early mound mastery: “I want a piece of it, for sure.”
(An aside: Marakovits talking with Cole was a rare example of an unobtrusive, useful in-game interview. It was quick, and Yankees fans got the chance to hear from Cole directly about what’s next in his rehab from Tommy John surgery — a bullpen session on Saturday. Other TV networks, please take note: In-game interviews can be done well.)
Yankees fans got everything they could have wanted from a home opener: a giant American flag in centerfield, the first Bleacher Creatures Roll Call of the season, a two-run home run by Aaron Judge in the first inning, a home run and three RBIs from Ben Rice, 11 walks, five stolen bases, more top-notch pitching and, most important, a victory.
The Yankees could have scored more runs, a lot more, as they went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Rice’s two-run double in the eighth was the 1.
So they can work on that. And the ABS stuff.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
