Yankees 8, Guardians 4, and if you were tuned in for the first inning you were probably nervous. Angel Martínez led off the bottom of the first with a 406-foot solo shot off Carlos Rodón -- 106.2 mph off the bat, a little hook to left field, just gone -- and Cleveland had a lead before the Yankees even got to the plate again. The good news is that the lead lasted about twenty minutes.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. flipped it in the second. Two runners on, and he drove a sharp line drive to right field that kept carrying. Two-run triple, Yankees up 2-1, and suddenly Parker Messick -- who'd just given up back-to-back singles to Trent Grisham and José Caballero -- looked like a man who'd made a terrible mistake. Anthony Volpe came up next, reached on a fielding error by Travis Bazzana, and Chisholm scored the unearned run from third. The New York Yankees led 3-1 and never trailed again.
It didn't stay clean. Cleveland tied it in the fourth -- Austin Hedges doubled in a run and Brayan Rocchio added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-3 -- and that's where the real question got answered: does this lineup respond when things get tight?
Turns out yes.
The Sixth Inning Closed It
Three productive at-bats in the top of the sixth, each one quieter than the last. José Caballero hit a sacrifice fly (in foul territory, which feels like a gift from the baseball gods) to go up 4-3. Volpe lined a double to left to make it 5-3. Paul Goldschmidt singled to right field, drove in another run, and just like that it was 6-3.
None of those runs was a home run. None of it was spectacular. Just three guys going up there and getting a runner home. That's what lineups look like when they're clicking.
The Yankees added two more in the seventh -- Caballero singled in another run, then Chisholm grounded into a force play and drove one in anyway -- and at that point it was over. Ryan Yarbrough gave up a meaningless Hedges RBI double in the ninth, final was 8-4, and everybody made the bus.
Chisholm Was the Story
Chisholm finished 1-for-4 with a triple, a walk, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. The triple was the play that changed the game, no question -- but the seventh-inning RBI groundout showed the other side of what he does. He got the run home when the hit wasn't there. (If you're keeping track of the number of games this year where Chisholm has been the guy who made something happen when the lineup needed it, the list is getting long.)
Trent Grisham scored three times (2-for-4, a triple, a walk) without a single RBI. That's either a lot of good baserunning or just a case of the right guys batting behind him all afternoon. Either way, crossing the plate three times is a pretty good Wednesday.
Rodón Did His Job
Six innings, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 7 strikeouts, 96 pitches. He gave up the Martínez homer, gave up two more in the fourth, and then got outs when they mattered. That's not a gem -- it's a quality start on a day when the offense was going to do enough, and Rodón knew the assignment.
Brent Headrick worked a scoreless seventh. Yarbrough pitched the eighth and ninth (the B9 garbage run was his, technically, but nobody's writing that in the narrative). Three pitchers, nine innings, done.
What This Series Meant
The Yankees swept Cleveland -- 7-5, 3-2, 8-4 -- in a three-game road series at Progressive Field. They're 41-26, right on Tampa Bay's heels for the AL East lead, and they've won four straight. This wasn't a flashy series. No walk-offs, no complete-game shutouts, no moment that's going to end up on a highlight show.
They just needed to be better than the Guardians for three days. They were.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
