Even insane official scorer's decision can't taint Will Warren's Yankees breakout

Maligned New York Yankees starter Will Warren went on the road to Sacramento and buzzed through a surprisingly potent Athletics lineup like he was back on a spring training mound. Then, just for good measure, he went and visited the first-place team in the AL West one day after the Yankees emptied their bullpen and fell in 11 innings, and he did it again.

Don't want to believe in Warren just yet? Understandable; he spent five starts last year and seven starts to begin the season showing that, despite the undeniable Michael King comparisons, there was still a certain "it" factor that he lacked.

But for the second consecutive start on Wednesday, he was razor sharp and made his tunneling undeniable. Despite forces conspiring against him to dirty up his spotless line hours after the game, the video footage tells the story the official scorer doesn't want you to know: Warren was perfect again.

[Even though yes, somehow the clear error that opened the floodgates in the third inning, allowing Warren to surrender a two-out double that never should've existed, was actually his fault, per the big man in the booth.]

Yankees starter Will Warren tagged with two earned runs he didn't deserve, but looked brilliant vs. Mariners

Forget the paperwork. Warren's ERA will finish the season two earned runs higher than it should - or more, considering the absurdist inconsistency of official scoring these days, which is working at a slower pace than ever and seems to delight in taking away no-hitters and domination from the Yankees retroactively. But the video footage is still right there for you to see.

On a night when the Yankees might not have had Luke Weaver (Spoiler Alert: They actually did) and had every right to slump into an off day after slinking into the dark the evening prior, Warren took the ball and got devilish with it.

Nine strikeouts later, Ian Hamilton and Fernando Cruz both grabbed their shots at redemption, allowing Aaron Boone to press the correct Paul Goldschmidt button (and Aaron Judge to do what Aaron Judge does in Seattle, where he's more reliable than the original Starbucks).

But this team doesn't reach a West Coast rhythm without Warren, who delivered a pair of brilliant outings to cement a 4-2 swing through choppy waters, a road trip in which both Carlos Rodón and Max Fried took the mound for losses. A few weeks ago, that would've been a recipe for disaster. Now? It's an open door for the Yankees' most mercurial rookie, who turned a corner this week. Even if the official scorers feel like obscuring the vision.