Yankees 8-2 Guardians: Cody Poteet dazzles in debut as Bronx Bombers equal franchise record

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New York Yankees 8-2 Cleveland Guardians

The New York Yankees maintained their blistering momentum in the 2024 season by sweeping a doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday. In tonight’s game, the Yankees secured an 8-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians, with Cody Poteet emerging as one of the standout performers.

With the sweep, the Yankees have now matched their franchise-best 12-3 start, previously achieved in 1926, 1943, 1949, 1987, 1988, and 2003. Of those teams, five went on to win the World Series, underscoring the significance of the Yankees’ hot start.

Between running out a semi-depleted bullpen in the second game of a doubleheader and giving the ball to a spot starter, you would certainly hope that the Yankees’ offense was on their A-game for this one. They were, as they struck early and often against Triston McKenzie and the Guardians’ pitching.

In the opening game, the Yankees edged the Guardians 3-2 in a tightly contested affair. Oswaldo Cabrera provided the offensive spark with a two-run homer in the fifth inning, giving the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.

Cody Poteet’s solid start

However, as it turned out, the Yankees didn’t have too many problems on the pitching front either. Getting the call up and the start as the doubleheader’s 27th man, Cody Poteet more than held his own. Poteet ended up going six innings, allowing just one run on six hits, striking out four. That allowed the Yankees to finish off a sweep of the doubleheader, as they took game two 8-2 over the Guardians.

With eight runs on nine hits for the game, the offense was pretty good all day, and it didn’t take long for them to get going. The Yankees were able to take advantage of a couple Cleveland miscues to get on the board in the first. After Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto drew walks to start the game, Aaron Judge hit a ground ball to third that could’ve easily been turned for a double play. However, the second base umpire ruled that the Guardians’ second baseman Andres Gimenez never had his foot on the bag while he had the ball during the relay.

To add to that, Josh Naylor couldn’t scoop the throw to first, meaning that everyone was safe on the play. Anthony Rizzo followed that by looping in a single for one run, and a Giancarlo Stanton walk plated another to give the Yankees the early lead.

The Yankees had Guardians’ starter Triston McKenzie pretty close to the ropes but failed to take advantage in the first. However, they made up for that in the fourth. They continued to work McKenzie’s pitch count to start the inning as Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo both drew walks. While the next two batters both made outs, Torres was able to move to third on a decently deep Oswaldo Cabrera fly out. That put him in position to score as Volpe dropped in a single. Soto immediately followed that with a home run to center, putting the Yankees way out in front.

The Yankees offense continues to roll

Cleveland had gone to the bullpen by the time the fifth starter, but that didn’t stop the offense from adding on. With two runners on, Cabrera continued his nice start to the season with an RBI double. Austin Wells followed that with a deep fly out that allowed Verdugo to tag up and score.

The Guardians got on the board when former Yankee Estevan Florial took a Poteet pitch just over the wall in right field for a solo shot. That ended up being the only run the Yankee starter allowed. While Cleveland scattered some hits, Poteet was able to limit the chances they did have, and induced six ground outs on the day.

After Poteet exited, Dennis Santana came in and he threw a couple impressive frames in the seventh and eighth, aided by a very nice catch from Alex Verdugo. Ron Marinaccio was brought in for the ninth for his MLB season debut. Josh Naylor tagged him with a home run for Cleveland’s second run of the day, however, Marninaccio finished things off without much trouble after that, ensuring the second win of the day.

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Up next

After sweeping the doubleheader on Saturday, the Yankees will now go for the overall series sweep tomorrow. Nestor Cortes will get the start for the Yankees as he looks to follow up his strong outing against the Marlins with another good performance. Meanwhile, Logan Allen will start for Cleveland in a game set to begin at 1:40 pm ET.

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