It’s very hard to go from relying on the consistent presence of a three-time MVP in your lineup every day to going cold turkey without him, but with Aaron Judge sidelined for the time being with some sort of rib issue, the Yankees’ offense has had to make do without him.
They didn’t get the starts they hoped for out of Cam Schlittler or Gerrit Cole to start the series, and that put them behind the eight-ball as the offense struggled for the most part. They needed somebody to step up and get the big
hit as the game entered the late innings tied on Thursday, not wanting to suffer a home sweep against the AL Central-leading Guardians.
Well, sometimes that big hit comes from an unlikely source. Ryan McMahon came through late, as he’s done a couple times already this season, plating Jazz Chisholm Jr. on a single through the right side in the seventh to give the Yankees a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 2-1 win. Carlos Rodón tossed a quality start, and the bullpen held things down from there.
Rodón started things off with a pair of quick, efficient strikeouts of David Fry and José Ramírez before falling behind 3-0 on Rhys Hoskins. After homering last night, Hoskins got a bit aggressive and got under a 3-0 fastball for an inning-ending flyout. Trent Grisham led off the bottom half with a bloop single, but was stranded on second base.
Cleveland got its first baserunner with two outs in the second on a walk to Stuart Fairchild, but Rodón worked around it before tossing another 1-2-3 inning in the third. Cecconi retired eight in a row after Grisham’s leadoff single before the Yankees’ center fielder ripped a double to left field with two out in the third, but Ben Rice flied out to end the inning.
J-Ram continued to kill the Yankees in the fourth with a leadoff single and stolen base, jumpstarting a rally that would open the scoring. It could’ve been worse, as Rodón was one pitch from walking the bases loaded after walking Hoskins and getting to 3-2 on Travis Bazzana, but he still did surrender a run on a seeing-eye RBI single by Fairchild with two out.
The Yanks punched back in the bottom half, but left meat on the bone. Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger led off the inning with a pair of singles before an expertly timed double steal put two in scoring position with nobody out. A long sac fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr. tied the game, but Bellinger badly overslid third base trying to tag and go to third and get around an off-line throw by Steven Kwan.
Both Cecconi and Rodón threw perfect fifth innings and mirrored each other in the sixth. Rodón once again walked Hoskins, but worked through it. Cecconi walked Rice and erased him with a 5-4-3 double play. That did it for Rodón, who had his third consecutive strong outing with six one-run innings while displaying better command for the most part. After subpar outings by Cole and Schlittler this series, it was good to see a winning effort from him.
Brent Headrick came on for his 30th appearance of the season, making him the seventh reliever in baseball to hit that mark. Who would’ve thought? After getting two quick outs, he inexplicably walked Austin Hedges on five pitches. In his career, Hedges has walked 10 times in 57 plate appearances against the Yankees, a walk rate nearly three times higher than his career average of 6.4 percent. With the inning extended, Brayan Rocchio nearly snuck one out over the porch, but Max Schuemann made the grab at the wall to send us to the seventh-inning stretch.
Codi Heuer replaced Cecconi and got into trouble after walking Chisholm with one out. Despite plenty of chances to steal, Chisholm waited to run until Caballero flew out, leaving it up to Ryan McMahon. A stolen base and wild pitch put the go-ahead run on third, and McMahon finally found a hole with a grounder through the right side for an RBI single to make it 2-1 Yankees.
Fernando Cruz, who also made his 30th appearance, got the eighth against the top of the Guardians’ order. Facing a trio of Yankee tormentors, he bounced back after falling behind the pinch-hitting Kyle Manzardo before getting weak pop-outs out of Ramírez and Hoskins for another strong inning.
It would be David Bednar who would come out for his first save opportunity since Memorial Day, facing 4-5-6 in the Guardians’ order. Bazzana chopped one back to the pitcher for the first out, Angel Martínez rolled over an 0-2 splitter for the second out, and the pinch-hitting Chase DeLauter did the same to end the ballgame, securing Bednar’s 13th save of the season.
The Rivalry is renewed this weekend for the first time since Alex Cora was fired in late April, as the Red Sox come to town for a three-game set, beginning tomorrow at 7:05 pm on YES. It’s Ryan Weathers against former Yankee Sonny Gray.
