CLEVELAND — The Yankees wanted Gerrit Cole to pitch like an ace and rest a worn-out bullpen. Instead, they got the opposite, and they won anyway. On a humid Tuesday night at Progressive Field, New York leaned on a pair of clutch home runs and a lights-out relief corps to grind past the Guardians 3-2.
It was not pretty, but it was the kind of resourceful victory that defines a team playing without its captain. The Yankees found just enough offense, and their bullpen did the rest.
Cole grinds through a rough night
The story the Yankees expected from Cole never materialized. Making his fourth start back from Tommy John surgery and his second in a row against Cleveland, the right-hander labored from the start while battling the humidity.
Cole allowed two runs on five hits and two walks over four innings, throwing 83 pitches and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the third. He was honest about how spent he was.
“At a certain point, I was just so gassed,” Cole said. “It’s just like survival mode.”
The Guardians tied the game in the third, when Chase DeLauter’s two-out single ate up shortstop Anthony Volpe, a 96 mph smash that hopped in front of him. Manager Aaron Boone defended his shortstop on the difficult play. Cole then escaped his deepest trouble and called it a small victory.
“That’s about as deep of a jam as you can get in,” Cole said. “I guess the good part is we were able to escape with two and keep us in the game.”
Jones keeps rising
Spencer Jones, the towering outfielder given an extended look with Judge sidelined, launched the first home run of his major league career.
Jones connected in the second inning for a two-run shot that staked the Yankees to an early 2-0 lead. It came in his 33rd big league at-bat, and he added a single to extend a promising four-game stretch since his second call-up. For a top prospect long questioned about his contact, the power display was a welcome sign for the Yankees that the tools are starting to translate.
Jazz answers the boos
The decisive moment belonged to Jazz Chisholm Jr., and it came with a chorus of Cleveland fans chanting Overrated at him. With the score tied 2-2 in the eighth, the Guardians kept lefty Tim Herrin in to face the left-handed-hitting Chisholm. The matchup backfired.
Chisholm worked the count full, then crushed a pitch into the right-field seats, once again swinging Aaron Judge’s bat. He admired the 360-foot blast and took his time around the bases as the boos grew louder. Afterward, he made no secret of how much he enjoyed silencing the crowd.
“Oh yeah,” Chisholm said when asked if the chants fueled him. “I think that’s why I overswung the at-bat before. The next at-bat I was like, keep your composure. I love the chants kind of. I feel like that was the loudest chants all day.”
Chisholm also gave credit to a tough opponent who simply made one mistake. He knew the opening was rare.
“He’s a good pitcher and he doesn’t really miss his spots,” Chisholm said of Herrin. “For him to miss in that spot, it’s like a huge sigh of relief.”
The bullpen saves the day
Here is where the Yankees truly won the game. With the relief corps gassed after burning seven arms in Monday’s 10-inning marathon, five more relievers stepped up and threw five scoreless innings behind Cole.
Paul Blackburn, Tim Hill, Camilo Doval, Jake Bird and Fernando Cruz combined to shut the door, with all but Cruz pitching for at least the second straight day. Blackburn even tagged out a runner near the plate on a failed squeeze. With David Bednar unavailable after 38 pitches over two games, Cruz recorded the final five outs for his first save, escaping an eighth-inning jam by getting Jose Ramirez to fly out with two on, then striking out the side in the ninth. Cruz spoke about the unit’s identity.
“We don’t have the big names, but we’re a special group,” Cruz said. “We’re hungry. We’re really united. There’s something really special going on back there.”
Boone has come to rely on Cruz in these spots, and he made that trust clear.
“He’s saved our bacon a bunch of times this year,” Boone said. “He’s put out so many fires for us in the biggest moments of the game.”
What’s next for the Yankees
The win improved the Yankees to 40-26 and kept them in a tight chase atop the American League East. It also handed them a chance to complete a road sweep of the Guardians.
The Yankees have turned late-game pressure into a winning formula over their last three games.
On Sunday, Cody Bellinger broke through with a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning. On Monday, he came through again with a go-ahead two-run single in the 10th. On Tuesday, Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed the same script, launching a go-ahead solo shot in the eighth.
That three-game run marked the first time since June 6-9, 2018, that the Yankees produced a go-ahead RBI in the eighth inning or later in three straight games.
New York now owns five go-ahead homers in the eighth inning or later this season, tied for the second-most in MLB. The Yankees also have 12 go-ahead hits in the eighth inning or later, the second-highest total in baseball.
“Tremendous,” Boone said. “Everyone really doing their job really well.”
New York will go for that sweep Wednesday afternoon in the series finale at Progressive Field with Carlos Rodón starting against Guardians’ Parker Messick.
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