CLEVELAND — The Yankees treated this series like a playoff dress rehearsal, and they closed it out the way they so often have against the American League Central. Behind two three-run rallies and a surge from the unlikeliest part of the order, New York buried the Guardians 8-4 on Wednesday afternoon before 31,586 at Progressive Field to complete a three-game sweep.
The bottom of the lineup did the heavy lifting, and a sweep that started with revenge on the mind ended with the Yankees firmly in control.
A shaky start on both sides
The game did not begin cleanly for the Yankees. On the very first play, center fielder Trent Grisham and right fielder Jose Caballero nearly collided in the right-center gap. Caballero, the season-opening shortstop, was in right field to make room for Anthony Volpe at short, and the two converged dangerously. Grisham made a two-handed catch while calling for the ball the whole way, then banged his head on the wall.
Carlos Rodon ran into early trouble too. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Angel Martinez on his second pitch of the game, the ball landing on the left-field concourse. It was Martinez’s second leadoff homer of the series and the second of his career. Both teams played sloppy defense, and the score sat tied 3-3 after four innings.
Chisholm fuels the middle innings
Jazz Chisholm Jr., booed relentlessly by the Cleveland crowd all series, kept tormenting the Guardians. He sandwiched a two-run triple between a pair of Cleveland errors to help the Yankees keep pace.
On the triple, Guardians right fielder Angel Martinez slipped onto his backside after corralling the ball, letting Jazz Chisholm reach third. The Yankees pieced together more damage from there. Caballero ended up on second when his bunt single was thrown away by Cleveland starter Parker Messick, and Chisholm later scored when Volpe reached on a misplayed grounder to second base. The messy fourth left the game knotted at three.
Rodon settles in
Rodon created his own mess in the fourth, issuing back-to-back leadoff walks that both came around to score. But the left-hander steadied himself and refused to let the outing unravel.
Rodon battled to a quality start, allowing three runs on four hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over six innings. The effort was critical for the Yankees, whose bullpen had thrown 10 2/3 innings over the previous two days combined. By eating six frames, Rodon spared the relievers and kept the game within reach.
The bottom order breaks it open
Here is where the Yankees seized control for good. The bottom five hitters in the lineup turned a tie game into a rout, accounting for six hits, four walks, seven runs and six RBIs on the day.
Grisham put the Yankees ahead 4-3 in the sixth with a heads-up slide to the inside of home plate, turning Caballero’s foul fly to shallow left into a sacrifice fly. Volpe followed with a slump-busting two-out RBI double to extend the lead and ignite the late rout. From there, the Yankees kept piling on with their two three-run bursts, and Cleveland had no answer.
Chisholm and the supporting cast shine
Chisholm capped a huge series with a stat line to match. A day after his game-winning home run, he added a stolen base, two runs scored and three RBIs in the finale, continuing to thrive as the villain in a hostile ballpark.
The supporting pieces delivered too. Caballero chipped in two hits and two RBIs despite the early near-collision, while Grisham added two hits and scored three runs. Volpe, who committed a third-inning throwing error, atoned in the field with a sliding play to cut down a runner at third in the ninth. The five runs charged to Messick were a career high for the rookie through 21 starts.
A sweep with playoff overtones
The win pushed the Yankees to 41-26, a season-high 15 games over .500. It was their sixth sweep of the year and their first sweep of at least three games in Cleveland since 2007, while also avenging a series loss to the Guardians in the Bronx last week.
The result extended a familiar trend, as the Yankees have now won their last seven playoff series, including a one-game set, against Central Division opponents. With Aaron Judge still sidelined, the depth on display in Cleveland was an encouraging sign.
New York now heads to Toronto for a weekend series against the Blue Jays, looking to carry the momentum north of the border. For a club leaning on its bottom of the order and a steadying start from Rodon, the sweep was exactly the statement the Yankees wanted to make.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
