Yankees must thank umpire Lance Barrett for wildly beneficial strike zone in 1-0 win

The New York Yankees entered Thursday's getaway day finale with the Texas Rangers holding a huge pile of house money. New York had already won the first two, thriving off a walk-off from Jasson Dominguez. The game started before 1:00 PM EST. Rain was in the forecast. Rain was the whole forecast. A flight to Colorado and a Friday game without an off day laid in wait. No one would've blamed them if they'd gotten buzzsawed by Nathan Eovaldi and lost silently.

Turns out, though, that the Rangers — winless in the series — had the exact same mindset. All it was going to take was one crack in the armor, by either side, to capture a victory. That crack came from rookie Jorbit Vivas, who slugged his first career home run to give the Yankees the slimmest of margins.

Carlos Rodón, Mark Leiter Jr., Devin Williams, and Luke Weaver — for the third time in three days! — made the advantage hold, and the Yankees took home a tidy sweep where they least expected to find one.

But ... (sigh) ... credit must also be given to the Yankees pitching staff's fifth horseman on Thursday: home plate umpire Lance Barrett, who was absolutely horrific and likely had a flight out, too. Maybe separate from the crew? Maybe on Juan Soto's private plane?

According to Umpire Auditor, Barrett missed 16 judgment calls in the game, 12 of which went against the losing Rangers. One of them was, we hate to say, an egregiously bad low strike call in the final AB of the game from Weaver to Jonah Heim, which elicited an audible, "Oh my God" from the Rangers booth. Somebody had a first-class ticket or a 4 Charles reservation.

Yankees benefit from home plate umpire Lance Barrett's bad strike zone in 1-0 win over Rangers

It's absurdly tough to win a 1-0 nailbiter in any ballpark, but it's especially difficult to do so in Yankee Stadium, with such a powerful offense slumbering on the other side of the diamond (yes, the Rangers have been categorically awful this year, but the brand names are still in place). Somehow, the Yankees have won 1-0 games twice this year ... and both came in the same dimensions. One in Tampa at George M. Steinbrenner Field, and one yesterday.

The Yankees' pitching was absurdly clutch, and after Leiter Jr. held on for dear life in the seventh, there wasn't really much to sweat about. But the lift from Barrett was noticeable enough to be covered, even on a Yankees site, so ... that certainly happened, too.