Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports Kahnle starts rehab assignment; Lalane one of the best in Rookie ball; How a cup of coffee led to a trade; JV looking human against the Yanks CBS Sports | Rotowire Staff: It’s been a while since we’ve seen changeup artist Tommy Kahnle on the bump, as his start to 2024 has been delayed. But yesterday, he started a rehab assignment in Tampa with a scoreless inning for the Low-A club, striking out a pair of batters. Kahnle’s shoulder has ailed him for a long time, but it’s starting to look up. The bullpen has been fantastic in recent weeks, but Kahnle will provide a needed bump in terms of depth. MLB.com | Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, and Sam Dykstra: The rookie leagues in Arizona and Florida have kicked off. This league hosts some of the brightest and youngest prospects in the game, and MLB ranked the top 10 FCL prospects. On the Yankees’ end, the most promising name is the young Henry Lalane at No. 4. Lalane is sky-high tall with a long arm swing and good athleticism. Right now, he’s dealing with a shoulder injury, but when he makes his debut, we’ll be paying attention. The Athletic ($) | Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal: The way trades come about can be very fun, no matter how seismic of a move. Right before the season started, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander was on his way back from dropping his kid at school. He gave Brian Cashman a ring. Cash lives right in between Neander’s home and his kid’s school. The Yankees GM picked up the phone, invited Neander over for a cup of coffee, and they made a nice little trade involving the Marlins, Jon Berti, and Ben Rortvedt. Things can still happen organically! Houston Chronicle | Michael Shapiro: Here in Yankees land, we’ve become numb to losing to the Astros and getting stomped on by Justin Verlander. On Tuesday night, it felt like an alternate universe. The Yankees crushed Verlander and the Astros from inning one through the end of the game. Shapiro detailed the previous times in the future Hall of Famer’s career when he bounced back after a rough patch. But coming off injury and being in the final stage of his career, it’s going to take more than it did in the past.

“He is one very lucky dog to have survived a fall off one of those cliffs. Other animals have not been that lucky.”

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports Judge, Soto, and Stanton led the charge as the Yankees continued their newfound domination of the Astros. For the first time during their brief time together in pinstripes, the Yankees’ big three power bats — Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Giancarlo Stanton — all went deep in one game. The trio provided the muscle in a 9-4 victory over the Houston Astros, locking in New York’s ninth series victory of 2024. Carlos Rodón rebounded from a dreadful start his last time out as the Yankees won their fifth-straight contest, stretching their their record against their longtime rivals to 6-0 this year (and 9-0 since September 2023). Kyle Tucker kicked off scoring in the top of the first, stroking a solo home run into the right-field seats on a center-cut four-seamer. But just as Tucker’s early pop was rendered moot in Tuesday night’s blowout, the Yankees once again quickly brought the pain to Astros pitching. Soto answered back in the bottom half of the inning, crushing a 440-foot blast to right-center field to score Anthony Volpe and stake the Yankees to a 2-1 lead. It was Soto’s ninth long ball of the year, tops on the Yankees and three behind Marcell Ozuna for the MLB lead. As it turned out, Soto would need that dinger to retain sole possession of the home run lead in the clubhouse by the end of play on Wednesday. The next inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs after an Anthony Rizzo single and walks by Gleyber Torres and Volpe. Soto followed with one of his least convincing hits yet as a Yankee, a dribbler to first that he beat out for a hustle RBI single. Unfortunately, bad baserunning by Torres and Volpe led to a “two men on third” situation and a rundown, preventing the Yankees from doing further damage. The Bronx faithful didn’t have anything to worry about, though! That damage would come in the very next inning. Judge ambushed the first pitch of the frame for an opposite-field homer, his eighth of the year. Then, Stanton hit what John Sterling would assuredly have deemed a Stantonian blast, a laser beam wrapped around the left-field foul pole that gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. At 119.9 mph, Stanton’s eighth dinger of the campaign is the hardest-hit ball of any kind this season, and his second howitzer of a roundtripper in as many days. The Yankees started to pull away with some small ball in the eighth. Austin Wells hit a double, his second hit of the day in his first action since last Friday. Oswaldo Cabrera and Volpe followed with walks to load the bases, and Soto knocked in Wells on a groundout to first. Judge came through with the back-breaker, a two-run double to right-center field that stretched the Yankees’ lead to 8-1. For his part, Rodón pitched around singles in the third and fourth before the Astros mounted their first real threat in the fifth. Rodón hit Yainer Diaz with a pitch and allowed a base hit to Mauricio Dubón to put two runners on with no outs. He nearly induced a double play but was forced to settle for a fielder’s choice, allowing Jose Altuve an opportunity with a man on third and one out. Altuve hit the ball to center, but a strong throw from Judge prevented Diaz from advancing. Rodón finished the job, striking out the red-hot Tucker swinging with a slider. Rodón pitched a scoreless sixth before running into trouble in the seventh, allowing an RBI triple off the bat of Jake Meyers that ended his night. The left-hander’s final line was two runs and seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings, rebounding nicely from a seven-run blowup in Baltimore. Rodón gave way to fellow lefty Caleb Ferguson, who retired Altuve and Tucker to strand Meyers at third. It was Ferguson’s seventh consecutive appearance without allowing an earned run, an encouraging sign after a mid-April skid during which the reliever’s season ERA ballooned to 6.23. Victor González allowed a home run to Jeremy Peña that brought the Astros to within five. Soto soon countered by knocking in his fifth run of the night on an eighth-inning base hit, and Ian Hamilton allowed a run in the ninth on an Altuve single before retiring Tucker and Yordan Alvarez to wrap up a 9-4 victory. The Yankees and Astros will face off for the final time this regular season tomorrow in an early-evening matchup. Marcus Stroman will take the pill for the sweep-hungry Yanks, coming off a 5.1-inning, one-run outing that dropped his ERA to 3.41 on the season. He’ll square up against Ronel Blanco, Houston’s sole consistent starter this year. The 30-year-old has been a revelation for the Astros, throwing a no-hitter in his season debut and carrying a 2.09 ERA into tomorrow’s outing. First pitch will be at 5:05pm ET. Box Score

"This is the first faculty-led encampment in the US. We hope it will not be the last. We thank our students for showing us the way; for being our teachers."