Called on for a spot start, Poteet put in six strong innings as he was backed up by a good day from the offense.
Between running out a semi-depleted bullpen in the second game of a doubleheader and giving the ball to a spot starter, you would certainly hope that the Yankees’ offense was on their A-game for this one. They were, as they struck early and often against Triston McKenzie and the Guardians’ pitching.
However as it turned out, they didn’t have too many problems on the pitching front either. Getting the call up and the start as the doubleheader’s 27th man, Cody Poteet more than held his own. Poteet ended up going six innings, allowing just one run on six hits, striking out four. That allowed the Yankees to finish off a sweep of the doubleheader, as they took game two 8-2 over the Guardians. They are now 12-3 for just the seventh time in team history.
With eight runs on nine hits for the game, the offense was pretty good all day, and it didn’t take long for them to get going. The Yankees were able to take advantage of a couple Cleveland miscues to get on the board in the first. After Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto drew walks to start the game, Aaron Judge hit a ground ball to third that could’ve easily been turned for a double play. However, the second base umpire ruled that second baseman Andrés Giménez never had his foot on the bag while he had the ball during the relay. To add to that, Josh Naylor couldn’t scoop the throw to first, meaning that everyone was safe on the play. Anthony Rizzo followed that by looping in a single for one run, and a Giancarlo Stanton walk plated another to give the Yankees the early lead.
The Yankees had Guardians’ starter Triston McKenzie pretty close to the ropes but failed to take advantage in the first. However, they made up for that in the fourth. They continued to work McKenzie’s pitch count to start the inning as Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo both drew walks. While the next two batters both made outs, Torres was able to move to third on a decently deep Oswaldo Cabrera fly out. That put him in position to score as Volpe dropped in a single. Soto immediately followed that with a home run to center, putting the Yankees way out in front.
Cleveland had gone to the bullpen by the time the fifth starter, but that didn’t stop the offense from adding on. With two runners on, Cabrera continued his nice start to the season with an RBI double. Austin Wells followed that with a deep fly out that allowed Verdugo to tag up and score.
The Guardians got on the board when former Yankee Estevan Florial took a Poteet pitch just over the wall in right field for a solo shot. That ended up being the only run the Yankee starter allowed. While Cleveland scattered some hits, Poteet was able to limit the chances they did have, and induced six groundouts on the day.
After Poteet exited, Dennis Santana came in and he threw a couple impressive frames in the seventh and eighth, aided by a very nice catch from Alex Verdugo. Ron Marinaccio was brought in for the ninth for his MLB season debut. Josh Naylor tagged him with a home run for Cleveland’s second run of the day, however, Marninaccio finished things off without much trouble after that, ensuring the second win of the day.
Juan Soto hit a three-run homer for New York as the Yankees won 8-2 to sweep a doubleheader on Saturday over the Cleveland Guardians and continue one of the strongest starts in their storied history.
New York took the opener 3-2.
The Yankees are 12-3 for the seventh time and first since 2003, when they made one of their 40 trips to the World Series. They’re 8-1 on the road, and have won their first five series for just the third time (1923 and 2010).
After sweeping the doubleheader on Saturday, the Yankees will now go for the overall series sweep tomorrow. Nestor Cortes will get the start for the Yankees as he looks to follow up his strong outing against the Marlins with another good performance. Meanwhile, Logan Allen will start for Cleveland in a game set to begin at 1:40 pm ET.
