Yankees' Spencer Jones starts four-run rally in second in victory over Padres

SAN DIEGO — Spencer Jones’ two-out RBI double began a four-run rally in the second inning as the Yankees beat the San Diego Padres, 5-1, on Saturday night.

Carlos Rodon and four relievers held the Padres to three hits as the Yankees (81-61) earned their 13th victory in the last 19 games. They remained four games behind the AL East-leading Rays and 3 1⁄2 games ahead of the Red Sox.

The Yankees drew seven walks, with three of those players scoring, and loaded the bases in three different innings but left 12 on base.

After Ben Rice led off the second with a single and moved to second on George Lombard Jr.’s grounder, Jones doubled into the rightfield corner off lefthander Robbie Ray. Ray walked Jose Caballero, Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt to make it 2-0 before Cody Bellinger singled home two runs.

Lombard added a sacrifice fly in the third to drive in Rice, who had walked and advanced on Heliot Ramos’ single.

Rice, who walked twice on Saturday, has had back-to-back three-hit games and is 8-for-12 in the last three games. Jones is 17-for-50 in his last 16 games.

Rodon (5-3) earned his first win in five starts by holding the Padres to one run, two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings. His only big mistake was allowing Manny Machado’s leadoff homer in the fourth on a 1-and-2 pitch. It was Machado’s 25th homer.

Michael Fulmer, Brent Headrick, John Schreiber and Tim Hill combined to allow one hit and three walks in the final four innings, striking out five.

Yankees righthander Gerrit Cole (8-7, 3.29 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Padres righthander and former Yankee Michael King (9-9, 3.11) on Sunday afternoon.

Grisham goes on IL

The Yankees placed centerfielder Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain and recalled Jasson Domínguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Also on Saturday, three-time MVP Aaron Judge took batting practice on the field for a second straight day and ran the bases again as he works toward returning from a rib stress fracture.

Grisham said he felt something in the hamstring Friday night while getting thrown out trying to steal second base in the second inning of a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Padres. In the bottom of the inning, he had a hard time getting to Xander Bogaerts’ RBI bloop single. He was taken out in the third.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Grisham was due to have tests either later Saturday or when the team returns to New York.

“I know he’s already moving around, doing stuff today. He felt a little bit better today,” said Boone, who added the injury is in a different spot than when Grisham was hurt earlier this season. Boone said it’s too early to know if Grisham will be back before the end of the season.

Grisham is hitting .211 with 18 homers and 59 RBIs. He played with the Padres from 2020 through 2023 before being traded to the Yankees along with Juan Soto in a seven-player blockbuster deal on Dec. 7, 2023.

Boone said Judge has been hitting every day, either on the field or in indoor batting cages. “He’s just ramping it up a lot on the volume,” he said. “Physically he’s to the point where he needs to be, it’s about just doing it a lot. That’s ultimately what you’re trying to replicate is being out there for nine innings, playing for three hours, sit down, get up, those kind of things. Just replicating that. He’s in a good spot.”