Josh Naylor hit a tying two-run single off a struggling Clay Holmes and Mike Zunino followed with a tiebreaking walk against Wandy Peralta as the Cleveland Guardians rallied in the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory over the host New York Yankees.
Cleveland was two outs away from being one-hit but started its rally when Steven Kwan singled to center to chase New York starter Domingo German.
Amed Rosario, who had Cleveland’s first hit two batters in, reached when Holmes (0-2) misplayed his chopper for an error on the third base side of the mound. Jose Ramirez lined a 2-0 pitch to left field to load the bases and Naylor lined a single to right and took second on right fielder Oswaldo Cabrera’s throwing error. Holmes was removed without recording an out.
Josh Bell kept the rally going with a walk to load the bases. After Peralta struck out Andres Gimenez, Zunino fouled off three straight pitches before drawing a walk on a low pitch.
German allowed two singles in a career-high 8 1/3 innings and was in line for his third win in four starts until Holmes and Peralta faltered.
Jose Trevino homered and DJ LeMahieu hit an RBI single in the third inning as the Yankees lost their fourth straight game hours after placing slugger Aaron Judge on the injured list with a strained right hip. Judge missed the final three games in Texas, took fielding drills before the game and did not take batting practice.
German was equally as dominating as his outing April 15 at home against Minnesota when he retired the first 16 hitters and struck out a career-high 11 while getting checked for sticky substances three times by umpires.
On Monday, German retired 24 of his first 26 hitters before the ninth. He allowed the single to Rosario two batters into the game on his sixth pitch and walked Bell to open the fifth.
German fanned six — all with his curveball — and walked one. He struck out Zunino three times and threw 65 of 88 pitches for strikes.
Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill allowed two runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings. Enyel De Los Santos (2-0) got the final two outs of the eighth, including a pickoff of rookie Anthony Volpe, before Cleveland rallied.
Emmanuel Clase pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances.
–Field Level Media
