The Yankees’ streak will stop at three.
The Bombers put out another strong pitching effort in their second straight shutout of Chicago Cubs in its 2-0 win Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. A day after Luis Gil returned from injury, it was Clarke Schmidt’s turn in his first outing since May 26 when he missed several months with a lat injury.
The right-hander threw 4.2 innings allowing four hits and zero runs while striking out two. Schmidt’s season ERA dropped to a dazzling 2.34 as his will continue to make his case to play a pivotal role as a starting pitcher come October.
When Schmidt makes his return, Nestor Cortes may be demoted from the rotation as the southpaw replaced Schmidt who was limited to just 75 spots. Cortes carried the torch and was brilliant out of the bullpen. The 29-year-old threw 4.1 shutout innings allowing 0 hits with one run while striking out three.
The Yankees offense was quiet again but did enough to get the job done. With howling winds at Wrigley Field, it was difficult to hit the ball out of the ballpark as fly balls were knocked out of the air — Giancarlo Stanton flew out to right at 110.2 MPH and Aaron Judge flew out to center at 107.7 MPH.
The Bombers had to turn to some small ball that Austin Wells opened the scoring in the top of the first with an RBI groundout by Cubs starter Javier Assad. In the top of the sixth, Judge scored after stealing third and Christian Bethancourt threw the ball down the left field line, scoring their second and final run of the afternoon.
Aaron Boone allowed another arm to record the final three outs of the game, this time it was Cortes – dominating out of the bullpen – who retired the team to secure the win.
The Yanks will turn to Gerrit Cole on Sunday afternoon for a much-needed sweep on the road. Former Yankee Jameson Taillon will take the ball for Craig Counsell’s side.
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