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A15
sports Monday 4 July 2022
McKenzie superb for 7 innings as Guardians edge Yankees 2-0

By TOM WITHERS "He looked like he was six of his previous eight out-
AP Sports Writer swinging four bats over ings, came through with a
CLEVELAND (AP) — About there in the dugout," Fran- stellar start.
the same time New York cona cracked. "I think the difference be-
Yankees star Aaron Judge With the crowd at Progres- tween this outing and the
grabbed a helmet and bat sive Field hanging on ev- last couple outings was
to pinch-hit, the Guardians ery pitch, Clase went to a making them feel a little
committed a ninth-inning full count before walking more uncomfortable at
error that threatened to Judge to load the bases. the plate and using all
sabotage a great win. He then retired Aaron Hicks my pitches to both sides,"
In the moment, manager on a grounder to second McKenzie said. "I used my
Terry Francona's emotions for the final out and his 19th curveball well to kind of
nearly got the best of him. save in 21 chances. slow them down and I think
"When the ball came out "You don't expect him to that just helped keep guys
of his glove, I almost started throw three sliders in a row," off balance and helped
crying," Francona said. said Hicks, who dropped to keep my heater kind of
Cleveland pulled it togeth- .138 (8 for 58) in his career Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie delivers useful from the first inning to
er. with the bases loaded. "I against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a base- the last inning."
Triston McKenzie shut down just got jammed trying to hit ball game in Cleveland, Sunday, July 3, 2022. Reyes homered leading off
New York's big-bashing the ball up the middle and Associated Press the fourth inning against
lineup over seven superb got out." Jordan Montgomery (3-
innings in a combined one- The Yankees reached the two games of the series, the entire three-game set 2), who pitched well but
hitter and closer Emmanuel 80-game mark at 58-22, the sweeping a doubleheader and six-game season series didn't get the run support,
Clase survived a harrowing third-best start through that Saturday by a combined against Cleveland. an unusual occurrence for
ninth, giving the Guardians many games since 1930. 19-5. Baseball's best team But McKenzie, who had a Yankees team winning at
a 2-0 win over the Yankees New York won the first seemed poised to take given up multiple homers in a record pace.q
on Sunday.
Franmil Reyes drove in both
Cleveland runs — homer-
ing in the fourth and hitting
a clutch RBI single in the
eighth — as the Guardians
salvaged the series finale
and handed the Yankees
just their seventh loss in 32
games.
McKenzie (5-6) allowed
only a broken-bat single
to Josh Donaldson in the
fourth. The right-hander,
who has been hurt by giv-
ing up home runs this sea-
son, kept the ball in the
park and the Yankees off
balance.
"I don't think any of us came
into this game looking at
the Yankees as the No. 1
team in baseball," McKen-
zie said.
"We came out here look-
ing at them as a team we
have to beat."
Eli Morgan worked a 1-2-3
in the eighth before giving
way to Clase, the AL's top
reliever in June, for a ninth
that had a little of every-
thing.
Clase walked Anthony
Rizzo leading off and got
Giancarlo Stanton to hit a
slow grounder that should
have been an out, but
first baseman Owen Miller
dropped the throw. The
right-hander retired the
next two before the Yan-
kees summoned Judge,
who leads the majors with
29 homers but wasn't in the
starting lineup.