Yankees sneak past Guardians to avoid sweep as Aaron Judges status looms
On a third straight day with a 6-foot-7, 282-pound-size hole in their lineup – and much bigger concerns about how long Aaron Judge’s absence would last than what was happening on the field – the Yankees at least salvaged a series.Ryan McMahon made sure Carlos Rodón’s strong start did not go to waste, roping a go-ahead single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Yankees to a 2-1 win over the Guardians on Thursday afternoon in The Bronx.As they awaited word on Judge’s diagnosis – after further imaging on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to determine the extent of his injury near his right rib cage – the Yankees (37-25) had more serious worries than potentially getting swept by the Guardians (36-28).But unlike Judge’s injury, the Yankees were at least in control of their own destiny on Thursday and did just enough to secure the win. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had tied the game earlier with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning off Slade Cecconi, got the winning rally started in the seventh when he drew a one-out walk against reliever Codi Heuer.With two outs, he stole second and took third on the next pitch, a wild pitch, before scoring on McMahon’s single through the right side.Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz and David Bednar each threw a scoreless inning of relief to make sure the two runs stood up.After the Guardians had gotten to both Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole in the first two games of the series, Rodón proved to be a much stiffer test on Thursday.
The left-hander allowed just one run over six innings, scattering just two singles and three walks while striking out seven in his fifth and sharpest start back from the injured list.Rodón did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, and it soon turned into the Guardians’ first run.José Ramirez led off the frame with a single, stole second and then tagged up to third on a fly ball to center field.
That allowed him to score on Stuart Fairchild’s seeing-eye single through th...