CLEVELAND -- Things started out great for the Yankees on Tuesday night.
Giancarlo Stanton took onfield batting practice for the first time this year. Ben Rice -- his understudy, who¡¯s keeping the designated hitter spot warm for him -- smashed an opposite-field home run on the first pitch of the game.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled New York¡¯s lead with a sacrifice fly.
But then things unraveled in the sixth inning.
The Guardians managed to scrape three runs across in the bottom of the frame on the back of five hits and a costly wild pitch. That ended up being enough to put the Yankees in a hole, as their lineup tallied only one hit over the final three innings and limped to the finish in a 3-2 loss at Progressive Field.
The inning was emblematic of the kind of baseball the Guardians play. After Steven Kwan opened the inning with a hard-hit single, Nolan Jones hit a single that snuck past Chisholm, which ended Will Warren¡¯s night.
Warren was relieved by Mark Leiter Jr., who uncorked a pitch that got by catcher J.C. Escarra and allowed Kwan (who was running on the play) to score from second. Jones ended up at third, and he scored on a double from Kyle Manzardo.
¡°[Escarra] was maybe a little quick out of the crouch [on that wild pitch],¡± Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. ¡°He didn¡¯t handle the ball, and then there were some squirrelly plays where they put the ball in play.¡±
Manzardo¡¯s double was one of those ¡°squirrelly¡± plays, as it had an expected batting average of .350 and landed just shy of the outstretched arm of Aaron Judge.
¡°I know that¡¯s the game right there,¡± Judge said. ¡°I tried to make the play but got about two steps away and saw [I wouldn¡¯t get it]. Just tried to knock it down at that point.¡±
Three batters later, the Guardians got the go-ahead run on a humpback infield single by Angel Mart¨ªnez on a ball that was hit to Anthony Volpe.
Volpe was able to knock the ball down, but he wasn¡¯t able to recover in time to get the speedy Mart¨ªnez. The play was initially ruled an error before being changed to a single.
¡°That¡¯s almost an impossible play,¡± Boone said. ¡°When it¡¯s in between like that, you just kind of need to smother it.¡±
While Volpe acknowledged how tough the ball was to track because of the spin on it, he still thought he should have finished the play.
¡°I feel like I¡¯ve got to make that play,¡± Volpe said. ¡°Those are the situations where you want the ball hit to you, and I didn¡¯t come through.¡±
While Leiter¡¯s final line wasn¡¯t great (one run on three hits while recording two outs), both he and Boone said it could be chalked up to a bit of misfortune during the inning.
¡°The ball didn¡¯t really bounce our way, not a lot to unpack about it,¡± Leiter said. ¡°Didn¡¯t get outs.¡±
Outside of Rice¡¯s leadoff homer, the main production came from Judge, who went 4-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. The four hits tied a career high, and he¡¯s now hitting .411 on the young season.
¡°I¡¯m just trying to get on base for the guys behind me,¡± Judge said. ¡°With [Cody Bellinger] and [Paul] Goldschmidt behind me, I¡¯ve got to do whatever I can to get to first base.¡±
Judge¡¯s double set up the Yankees¡¯ other run in the sixth, as he reached third base on a one-out single from Goldschmidt before scoring on Chisholm¡¯s sacrifice fly. Goldschmidt¡¯s single and Rice¡¯s home run were the only other non-Judge hits the Yankees were able to get.
¡°He continues to do just really great things,¡± Boone said of Judge. ¡°Obviously he¡¯s playing out of his mind.¡±
One start after being unable to get out of the second inning against the Rays, Warren tossed five-plus strong innings and allowed two runs on five hits and one walk to a lineup full of left-handed hitters and switch-hitters.
¡°After last week, we really wanted to be aggressive,¡± Warren said. ¡°Left-handers used to be my kryptonite, and now I feel like I have the confidence to go out against whoever they put in the lineup.¡±
The Yankees got their second straight crack at Cade Smith in the ninth due to Emmanuel Clase being down again. But Jasson Dom¨ªnguez, Austin Wells and Oswaldo Cabrera were retired on four combined pitches.
¡°I thought we got good swings off,¡± Boone said. ¡°I thought we swung at the right pitches.¡±