Juan Soto and Nestor Cortes gave the Yankees exactly what they needed in their 8-1 win against the Guardians on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (74-53) have leapfrogged the Orioles for first place in the American League East after Baltimore’s loss to the Mets.
Here are the takeaways…
-Wednesday was very similar to Tuesday’s game in that Soto and Aaron Judge provided all of the offense for the Yankees. The duo drove in four of the Yankees’ five runs on Tuesday and they got out to a fast start on Wednesday.
Soto launched a two-run shot in the first to notch his 36th homer of the season, a new career-high. Dating back to Aug. 11, Soto’s last eight hits were all home runs (h/t Katie Sharp). In his third at-bat, Soto came up with the bases loaded and lined a double down the left field line to clear them.
Judge got into the scoring mix with his two-run shot in the third inning and added a solo homer in the seventh. Judge now has 47 home runs this season and is now on pace for 60 homers.
The duo accounted for all eight Yankees runs with both picking up two hits apiece.
-In Tuesday’s loss, the Yankees bullpen had to pitch nine innings thanks to a Luis Gil injury. The team really needed Cortes to give them length and the southpaw obliged.
Cortes kept the Guardians off balance all night, pitching seven scoreless innings (104 pitches/68 strikes) allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out four batters. This is the second consecutive scoreless outing for Cortes, both times going seven.
–Austin Wells got the start against the lefty after sitting in Tuesday’s game and finished 1-for-4. Gleyber Torres went 2-for-4 with two runs while Anthony Volpe picked up a double in his only hit on the night.
Game MVP: Juan Soto
Soto drove in five runs and broke the game open with his bases-clearing double.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Guardians complete their three-game set on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Gerrit Cole (4-2, 4.15 ERA) is on the mound for New York while the Guardians will start Gavin Williams (2-5, 5.02 ERA).
Source Agencies
