Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored the tie-breaking run on a single by Ryan McMahon with two outs in the seventh inning as the New York Yankees edged the visiting Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Thursday afternoon.
The Yankees avoided a sweep at home by Cleveland for the first time since August 2017 as they waited for another update on Aaron Judge’s rib injury. Judge missed the entire series with the ailment that also is causing discomfort in his right shoulder.
Chisholm started the tie-breaking rally by drawing a one-out walk against Codi Heuer. He stole second with two outs, on the first pitch to McMahon, and advanced to third on the next pitch when Heuer bounced a slider.
McMahon reached a full count and softly hit Heuer’s fastball on the ground and into right field to easily score Chisholm.
McMahon also helped out defensively at third base, notably in the sixth when he snagged Jose Ramirez’s 110.5 mph liner to start the inning while dropping to his knees.
Max Schuemann started for Judge and highlighted his first career start in right field with a diving catch on Steven Kwan’s liner to end the top of the second. He also made a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio for the third out of the seventh.
The Guardians’ Jose Ramirez went 1-for-4 after posting consecutive three-hit games. Ramirez finished the series 7-for-13 and scored on a single by Stuart Fairchild in the fourth.
New York’s Carlos Rodon allowed one run on two hits in six innings. The left-hander struck out seventh and walked three in his third straight strong outing following a shaky return from offseason elbow surgery.
Cleveland’s Slade Cecconi allowed one run on four hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked one.
Brent Headrick (4-1) stranded a runner in the seventh and Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. David Bednar quickly notched his 13th save in 15 chances by getting three groundouts.
