Cody Bellinger homers, Max Fried dominates as Yankees shut out Guardians, 4-0

Cody Bellinger homered and drove in three of the Yankees’ four runs while Max Fried returned to form to help shut out the Guardians, 4-0, on Thursday night in The Bronx.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Yankees’ offense was asleep for a part of Thursday’s game, similar to what befell them on Wednesday. But the bats finally woke up in the fourth when Aaron Judge hit a one-out bloop double to get the Yankees their first knick of the game.Bellinger followed with an ambush of a Slade Cecconi fastball over the middle of the plate, depositing the ball 398 feet over the right-center field wall to put the Yankees up 2-0.

After that fourth inning, the Yankees fell into a slumber again until Bellinger woke them up in the seventh. With men on first and second and two outs, he singled to right field to plate Trent Grisham and put the Yankees ahead 3-0. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a single of his own, driving in Judge from third.

In total, the Yankees had 10 hits and went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine runners on base.

-Fried made his first start since losing his first game of the year last weekend in Los Angeles. And after a shaky first inning in which he threw 28 pitches, the southpaw settled in, blanking the Guardians for the next five innings. Fried dominated Cleveland, throwing 103 pitches (62 strikes) through six shutout innings, allowing one hit — a Jose Ramirez single in the first — and two walks while striking out seven. Fried’s only issue was his inefficiency, but a great bounceback outing for the Yankees’ ace.

Fried’s performance lowered his ERA to 1.78, which is the lowest by a Yankees pitcher in his first 13 starts of a season since Phil Niekro in 1984 (1.73) (h/t Sarah Langs).

-With Fried out of the game, how would the Yankees’ bullpen fare? Well, they pitched into trouble in the seventh. Mark Leiter Jr. allowed two singles, but a throwing error from Anthony Volpe loaded the bases with one out before Aaron Boone went to Tim Hill. The left-hander struck out Bo Naylor and got Jhonkensy Noel to fly out to end the Guardians’ threat.

Hill pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and impressively picked up five outs.

Jonathan Loaisiga came in for the ninth and got Cleveland in order to clinch the series.

–Oswald Peraza went 2-for-3 but had three hard-hit balls (101.4, 102.3, 108 mph). His only out was a long flyout to center field that Angel Martinez slid feet-first into the wall to catch.

Chisholm Jr. went 3-for-4 and raised his average to .207. It’s the infielder’s second three-hit game in 33 games this season (March 30).

Judge finished 1-for-1 with two intentional walks, raising his average to .392

Jasson Dominguez made his first appearance since injuring his finger over the weekend. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. In his final at-bat, he flew out with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh.

Game MVP: Cody Bellinger

Fried shut down the Guardians, but Bellinger’s two-run shot after the Yankees were shut out the day before helped the team get off the schneid.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees and Red Sox meet for the first time this season. The series opener will be Friday night at the Stadium with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

Will Warren (3-3, 5.19 ERA) will take the mound against Walker Buehler (4-3, 4.44 ERA)

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