CHICAGO — The wind swirled at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon, and for most of the day it seemed to swallow every Yankees swing. The top of the New York order kept walking back to the dugout empty-handed. The middle did the same. A lineup already thinned by injuries looked, once again, like it might not scratch out enough to matter.
Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, hitting near the front, combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. Rice struck out three times by himself. Jazz Chisholm Jr. went hitless. The Yankees finished with five hits and left the bases loaded look like a recurring nightmare for the Cubs, not for themselves.
This has been the season’s pattern for the Yankees. They keep winning low-scoring games their offense has no business winning. Over the previous six games, the Yankees rotation had surrendered a combined three runs. Aaron Judge remains out. Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton are on the shelf too. The bats have gone quiet, and the pitching staff has answered every time.
But on Sunday, the Yankees still beat the Cubs 2-1, and both runs came from the bottom third of the order. Ryan McMahon, hitting seventh, singled and came around to score. Jose Caballero, batting eighth, turned on a fastball and drove it out for a two-run homer. Those two men produced the only runs, and three of New York’s five hits, on a day the marquee names went silent.
A two-run swing from eight-hole give Yankees the room
Caballero delivered the decisive blow in the third inning. With McMahon aboard, the Yankees shortstop caught a Colin Rea fastball and sent it to left-center. It was his 11th home run of the season, and it left the bat at 106.6 mph, wind and all. From that point the Yankees never trailed and never added another run.
Manager Aaron Boone had watched that pop in practice for weeks and was glad to see it show up in a game that needed it.
“That was his BP power right there,” Boone said. “In the wind, no doubt. We watch that every day in BP. It was good to see him really get a good swing off.”
Caballero finished with two hits, half of a quiet Yankees attack. McMahon added the single that set up the homer. The rest of the lineup managed almost nothing against Rea, who took the loss after six innings and two earned runs.
Gerrit Cole grinded through a scrappy afternoon
Gerrit Cole earned the win, though he admitted it was far from his sharpest work. He gave up four hits and one run over 5 2/3 innings, struck out five and walked three. The wind and shaky command made every inning a chore. He walked Pete Crow-Armstrong to start the game, then retired nine straight before Seiya Suzuki doubled to lead off the fourth and later scored the Cubs’ only run.
Cole was honest about how the day felt on the mound.
“I thought it was OK today,” Cole said. “It was just a bit of a scrappy day. Command was a little fleeting. Stuff was, I think, affected by the wind. I would’ve liked not to have walked some guys, but at the same time, we were going for it and just missing. Sometimes that happens, and that’s what you’ve got to work with. So we worked with it.”
The victory was Cole’s fifth of the year and gave him wins in consecutive starts for the first time this season. He lowered his ERA to 3.42 and has now allowed three runs or fewer in 10 of his 13 starts. Over his last six outings he owns a 2.75 ERA.
Headrick turned the game with one out and three strikeouts
The afternoon turned in the sixth. Cole loaded the bases with two outs, and Boone came to get him at 99 pitches. In walked Brent Headrick, and the lead sat one swing from vanishing.
Headrick fell behind Nico Hoerner 3-0, then coaxed a flyout to strand all three runners. He came back for the seventh and struck out the side. It was a swing of momentum the Yankees had chased all series. The Yankees left-hander lowered his season ERA to a sparkling 1.42.
Cole, who had just handed him the mess, did not hold back in praise.
“Outstanding,” Cole said. “A huge out for us, then to come back out and dominate again with three strikeouts in the following inning was huge.”
Paul Blackburn worked around traffic in the eighth before Boone summoned closer David Bednar for a four-out save. Bednar retired Ian Happ to end the eighth. He allowed a walk and a stolen base in the ninth, moving the tying run into scoring position, but struck out Michael Conforto to end it. Headrick, Blackburn and Bednar combined to allow no hits after Cole departed.
The pitching keeps buying time while the bats stay stuck
The win closed a series in which the Yankees scored exactly two runs in all three games and still took two of three. It capped a 6-4 road trip through Philadelphia and Chicago, all against clubs with postseason hopes. Almost every game hinged on a single pitch or a single swing.
Boone knows the offense has to wake up, but he credited the pieces that keep the Yankees afloat.
“We know we’ve got to continue to move the needle offensively,” Boone said. “But another outstanding performance, starting with Gerrit today. We got enough done again offensively.”
New York left Chicago at 63-49, sitting 2 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for the best record in the American League. The Yankees remain in the thick of the AL East and wild-card race, held there by a pitching staff that refuses to let close games slip away. Cole framed the current approach in simple terms.
“We’ve been playing rather effectively in close games,” Cole said. “The reality is, they scored one. We made it stick. We’ve just got to meet the game where it is that day, keep pushing, keep a positive mindset and keep trying to play crisp ball.”
The Yankees now head home to Yankee Stadium for a three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning Monday night. Until the lineup breaks loose, the formula stays the same. Pitch like every run matters, and let the bottom of the order steal a win when the top cannot.
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