The Yankees won a June game with an October feel. Aaron Boone and Stephen Vogt managed Tuesday night’s contest like a playoff game. The Yankees emptied their bench, both teams had quick hooks on their relievers, and momentum swung back and forth throughout the evening before New York finally emerged with a 7-5 victory in ten innings.
Paul Goldschmidt wasted no time getting the Yankees on the board. After Ben Rice reached base to begin the game, Goldschmidt jumped on a Gavin Williams offering and deposited
it into a Yankees fan’s glove just as they emerged from the left-field tunnel for a two-run homer. The blast, his eighth of the season, gave New York an early 2-0 lead and continued a recent stretch of strong play from the veteran first baseman.
The Yankees added another run in the third inning, though this one came in far less conventional fashion. Trent Grisham crossed the plate when a throwing error by Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio allowed Cody Bellinger to reach safely. Up 3-0 early, the Yankees appeared poised to seize complete control of the game.
However, Will Warren labored through his outing. The Guardians worked deep into counts and in the third inning things unraveled both in front of and behind him. A wild pitch allowed Steven Kwan to score before Rocchio redeemed himself with an RBI groundout. Cleveland eventually pulled even when José Caballero was charged with a fielding error that allowed José Ramírez to score. Of the three runs charged against Warren during the inning, only two were earned as defensive miscues once again proved costly for New York.
The Yankees reclaimed the lead in the fifth thanks to Ryan McMahon. After review, McMahon was awarded his seventh home run of the season when replay confirmed his drive had cleared the wall in left-center field. The solo shot continued what has quietly been a much-improved stretch for the Yankees third baseman and pushed New York back in front, 4-3.
That advantage held until the sixth. After Peter Blackburn entered in relief, Angel Martínez turned around a pitch and launched a two-run homer into the right-center field seats. The blast scored David Fry and gave Cleveland its first lead of the night at 5-4. The vibes quickly turned bad.
The Yankees, however, refused to go quietly into the Cleveland night. In the eighth inning, Grisham once again helped spark the offense and eventually came home on a Paul Goldschmidt fielder’s choice. The run tied the game at five. The Bombers threatened again, but Cleveland closer Cade Smith was able to get a ground ball that Rocchio turned into a slick double play to end the rally and kept the game deadlocked.
The Guardians threatened in the bottom of the eighth, putting two runners aboard with one out and had Travis Bazzana and Ramírez looming. Boone responded by calling on Tim Hill. The veteran left-hander got Bazzana to pop out on the infield before Ramírez lifted a fly ball to Spencer Jones in right, allowing the Yankees to escape the inning unscathed.
Hill and David Bednar were able to keep Cleveland off the board in the ninth and sent the game to extras. In the tenth, with Ali Sánchez serving as the automatic runner, Grisham was unable to advance him, but Cleveland elected to intentionally walk Ben Rice. Max Schuemann then worked a walk of his own after successfully challenging a strike call, loading the bases with one out.
That set the stage for Bellinger who is stepping up in the absence of the captain. The Yankees right fielder lined a single into left field that plated both Sánchez and Rice to give New York a 7-5 lead. Schuemann was caught trying to advance to third, but the damage had already been done.
Bednar had needed just seven pitches to get the final two outs of the ninth, so he stayed on for the 10th. Immediately faced with the tying run at the plate due to the automatic runner, thc Renegade made it even more tense by walking Martinez to bring the winning run up. But he stared down the challenge and retired the Guardians in order after that, getting a lineout from Kwan, burying Bailey on a three-pitch K, and coaxing a full-count groundout from Rocchio to end it on his 27th offering of the night.
The Rays won, so the Yankees needed this hard-fought win to keep pace with them in the relative share of first place. Game two between New York and Cleveland is set for 6:40pm ET again tomorrow as Gerrit Cole is set to face Slade Cecconi.
