Getaway games can never just be normal, can they?
Carlos Rodón’s second pitch of the game was hit out of the park, Angel Martínez played right field like he was doing shots in between innings, Trent Grisham had one of the most consequential ABS challenges of the year, this game had a bit of everything. Despite all the chaos, the Yankees got exactly what they needed — a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians, and it wasn’t some one-run affair this time.
Pour one out for the Yankee starter with that opening
home run, but the Yankees did well to get right back in the game. A pair of leadoff singles had them in business early, just in time for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to crack another big hit, not waiting for the eighth inning this time:
That hit helped push Jazz officially over 100 wRC+ on the season, and the keystoner is warming up with the weather. The Yankees benefitted from a Guardians error one batter later, with Chisholm coming home to make it 3-1.
Rodón had kind of a funky day, up and down almost along with the inning count. First inning wasn’t very good, with the aforementioned leadoff home run, a walk and soft single allowed. A clean second inning followed and a clean third would have to if Anthony Volpe was a major-league-caliber shortstop, but I am becoming increasingly convinced he is not:
Carlos was able to work around what was officially scored a single and error, sparing Volpe any more venom than he rightfully received for the misplay. The fourth inning was once again trouble for the southpaw though, as he issued two leadoff walks and Austin Hedges made him pay with a double that plated one of those runners, and a followup sac fly tied the game at three. And then Good Rodón was back, icing the Guardians through the fifth and sixth, finishing a full frame deeper than I thought he would based on his pitch count in the fourth.
Critical was that perfect sixth inning, a shutdown affair as the Yankees picked the top half to be their breakout frame, kicked off by Trent Grisham’s keen eye:
We don’t get WPA for turnovers, but by that metric this has to be one of the bigger swings of the season. Grisham going down would have left the Guardians two out, nobody on, in a tie ball game. Fallacy of the predetermined outcome and all, but José Caballero’s subsequent fly ball would have ended the inning instead of giving the Yankees the lead — although Grisham does deserve additional credit for one heck of a slide:
From there the club had themselves a nice little two-out rally, with Volpe and Paul Goldschmidt tacking runs on in the tack-on portion of the game:
We got that big inning from Carlos, and the Yankees added two more runs in the seventh to push the lead to five. Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough teamed up after Rodón’s six innings, and while Yar did allow a run to cross in the ninth, a pair of nifty defensive plays from the left side of the infield was enough to seal the game, series, and sweep.
The Yankees did what they had to to keep pace with the Rays, who finished off their own sweep of the Red Sox at the Trop. There’s truly no salve like the AL Central, and now the team will enjoy an off day in June in Toronto, which is a pretty good deal for anyone. Ryan Weathers is expected to get the ball against the Yanks’ now-familiar nemesis Trey Yesavage on Friday night to kick off a three-game series with the Blue Jays, so we’ll see you all for the 7:07pm first pitch.
