YANKEES STAY RED HOT VS GUARDIANS

The series began with game one being rained out. This led to a double header on Saturday. Pitching Game 1 was Clarke Schmidt vs Carlos Carrasco. (Yes, former NY Met Carlos Carrasco) Both went into this game with no wins and similar stats. This was Carrasco’s first time pitching on the Cleveland mound since Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series in 2020. Verdugo scored on a Grisham ground out into a double play putting the Yankees on the board 1-0. In the 6th inning Cabrera hit a 2 run HR to put the Yankees at 3-0 but the Guardians answered with 2 runs scored when Ferguson replaced Schmidt. Only one of those runs went against Schmidt’s ERA. Hamilton came in and held the Guardians to the 2 runs, bringing the Yankees to the 9th inning where Holmes came in and recorded the save. Yankees won 3-2. 

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Game 2’s pitching matchup was newcomer Cody Poteet vs Triston McKenzie. Poteet was a free agent who signed with the Yankees on Friday. His last Major League start was in July of 2022 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. McKenzie is back this year for the Guardians after only making four starts in 2023 due to multiple health issues. The Yankees started off strong loading the bases due to a fielding error by Gimenez and a bad throw to first base. The Yankees scored two runs in the 1st inning with Volpe scoring on a Rizzo single and Soto scoring on a Stanton walk. Poteet looked good and McKenzie started to get himself together until the 4th inning came. Volpe drove in Torres on a single to center and Soto followed up with 3 run HR bringing the Yankees lead to 6-0. The Guardians attempted a comeback in the 5th inning when former Yankee prospect Florial hit his first HR as a Guardian however prior to that the Yankees scored two more runs with a Cabrera double and a Wells sacrifice fly. Poteet made it to the 7th inning where he was replaced with Santana who held the Guardians to 1 run until the 9th inning.  Marinaccio comes out to save the game in the 9th, which he was able to do despite giving up a HR to J. Naylor. The Yankees won 8-2.

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This is the third time in history, the Yankees have won their first five series. 

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Game 3 was a battle of the homeruns with Nestor Cortes facing off against Logan Allen on the mound. The Yankees struggled defensively a little in the beginning with Rizzo having two errors. The battle of the homeruns began in the 3rd inning when Judge hit a monster 450 ft. - 3 run HR and the Guardian’s Ramirez answered with a 2 run HR. Trevino hit a solo HR in the 4th inning bringing the score to 4-2 Yankees. But the Guardians answered in the 5th inning with a solo HR by Arias and Kwan scoring on a single by J. Naylor which tied the game 4-4. This led to pitching changes in the 6th and 7th innings for both teams. Gonzalez held the Guardians to 4 runs until the 8th inning when he was replaced by Weaver who gave up a solo HR to Florial putting the Guardians on top 4-5. But the Yankees being the Yankees answered in the 9th inning when Cabrera scored on a Volpe double, tying the game for the second time. Holmes came in to keep the Guardians from scoring in the 9th inning which led to extra innings. The Guardians bring out Beede to start the 10th inning who intentionally walked Judge but Judge and Soto ended up scoring on a single by Rizzo putting the Yankees on top 7-5. Unfortunately in the bottom of the 10th the Yankees brought in Ferguson who gave up a bunch of hits that led to the Guardians scoring two runs. The game ended with a sacrifice fly by Gimenez. Yankees lost 7-8.

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The Yankees look to keep their momentum going as they head right to Toronto to start their next series on Monday with Luis Gil getting the start against Chris Bassitt.