The New York Yankees kicked off their three-game road series against Cleveland with a thrilling 7-5 extra-inning victory Monday, thanks to Cody Bellinger’s clutch two-run single in the 10th frame.
With the bases loaded and one out in the extra inning, Bellinger came through against Cleveland reliever Shawn Armstrong (1-1) to break the deadlock and put the Yankees in front.
Yankees reliever David Bednar (2-3) was dominant in the final two innings, fanning both batters he faced in the ninth before working out of trouble in the 10th. Cleveland had put two runners on base with nobody out, but Bednar retired the next three hitters in order.
Paul Goldschmidt launched a two-run homer while Ryan McMahon contributed a solo blast for New York, which relied on seven different relief pitchers. The victory marked the Yankees’ ninth win over their last 13 contests.
Cleveland got a two-run homer from Angel Martinez but struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-11 in those situations and leaving 11 men on base. The Guardians have now dropped four of their previous five games.
New York jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the opening inning when Ben Rice worked a one-out walk, setting up Goldschmidt’s eighth home run of the season off Cleveland starter Gavin Williams.
The Yankees extended their lead to 3-0 in the third when Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio made a throwing error on a potential double-play ball, allowing Trent Grisham to cross the plate from second base.
Cleveland answered with three runs in the bottom of the third against Yankees starter Will Warren, who walked Steven Kwan to start the inning. Patrick Bailey followed with a double, and Kwan came home on a wild pitch before Bailey scored on Rocchio’s groundout.
The Guardians completed their comeback when Jose Ramirez scored on an error by Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero, who couldn’t handle Kyle Manzardo’s grounder up the middle with two outs and runners on the corners.
Warren’s outing lasted 4 1/3 innings, surrendering three runs with only two earned on three hits. He issued two walks and recorded five strikeouts.
McMahon restored New York’s lead in the fifth inning with his seventh homer of the campaign, a leadoff shot to left-center field against Williams.
Williams completed five innings for Cleveland, allowing four runs with three earned on four hits. He walked three batters and struck out five.
The Guardians grabbed their first lead of the game in the sixth when Martinez connected for his two-run homer off Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn.
New York forced extra innings with a tying run in the eighth against Hunter Gaddis. Grisham and Rice delivered consecutive singles before Grisham came home on Goldschmidt’s fielder’s choice.
