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Try it freeCLEVELAND — No current Yankees were alive the last time the Guardians swept them in Cleveland.
They made sure it stayed that way Wednesday.
Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt continued to be red-hot at the plate while Carlos Rodón turned in another dominant outing to combine for a 5-1 win over the Guardians at a sun-splashed Progressive Field.
In the process, the Yankees (15-10) avoided what would have been their first sweep of three games or more in Cleveland since 1970.
Judge and Goldschmidt were two of five Yankees to reach base three times on the day, maintaining their spots atop the majors in batting average. Judge, a day after going 4-for-4, went 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk and is now batting .415 with a 1.247 OPS. Goldschmidt was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, upping his average to .383 with a .922 OPS.
Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez also reached base three times apiece to fuel an offense that was one big hit away from breaking the game open, only to strand 13.
But Rodón made sure it did not ultimately matter by throwing seven strong innings in which he allowed just one unearned run. The left-hander, coming off six shutout innings against the Rays last Friday, scattered just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. He retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced.
Fernando Cruz shut down the top of the Guardians’ order in the top of the eighth before Luke Weaver (with Devin Williams warming) closed it out in the ninth, with some help from a terrific running catch by Cody Belinger for the final out.
After going down quietly late in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss, the Yankees came out of the gates strong on Wednesday.
Judge came within a few feet of his eighth home run of the season, crushing a ball to the deepest part of the ballpark and settling for his first triple that scored Rice for the 1-0 lead.
After Bellinger walked, Goldschmidt also just missed a home run, instead taking an RBI double to make it 2-0.
The Yankees wasted a chance for more, though, as Luis Ortiz struck out Chisholm, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells – three hitters who have been struggling of late – in succession to escape the jam.
The Guardians got a run back in the bottom of the first thanks in part to a fielding error by Bellinger. Gabriel Arias doubled with one out before José Ramírez roped a single to center that Bellinger charged but let the ball get past him, scoring Arias and sending Ramírez to third.
Rodón did not let things snowball, though, by quickly retiring the next two batters.
The Yankees put together another rally in the second inning but again missed a chance for something bigger. Domínguez led off with a walk, stole second and then came around to score on Rice’s hard single through the right side.
Judge and Goldschmidt then added singles to score Rice for the 4-1 lead.
Chisholm then walked to load the bases, but Volpe extinguished the threat by striking out. The third-year shortstop struck out four times on the day to fall further into a rough slump, now 7-for-54 (.130) over his last 16 games.
After Bellinger was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Goldschmidt’s double (running through a stop sign) to end the sixth, the Yankees added some insurance in the seventh. Chisholm walked, stole second and then came around to score on Wells’ double to extend the lead to 5-1.