Yankees down Guardians 5-1 to salvage series finale

Carlos Rodón pitched seven strong innings, Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs and Aaron Judge raised his major league-leading average to .415 as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 on Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Rodón (3-3) allowed just four hits, struck out five straight in one stretch and kept the Guardians off balance. Fernando Cruz and Luke Weaver pitched an inning each to complete the five-hitter.

Judge and Goldschmidt each drove in a run in the first inning off Luis Ortiz (2-3) as the Yankees took the finale of the three-game set. New York hasn’t been swept in a series of at least three games in Cleveland since 1970.

The Guardians saw their winning streak stopped at five and fell to 7-2 at home.

Judge, who went 4 for 4 on Tuesday, tripled off the wall in deep center field in the first inning to score Ben Rice from first. The Yankees added another run on Goldschmidt’s RBI double.

Judge has reached base in 21 straight games. The superstar entered the game leading the majors in batting average, hits and on-base percentage.

Rice and Goldschmidt drove in runs in the second inning off Ortiz, who needed 76 pitches to get through the first three innings.

Guardians rookie Will Wilson collected his first major league hit in the ninth.

Key moment

Judge’s 418-foot shot to straightaway center in the first caromed off the top of the 19-foot-high outfield wall. Per Statcast, Judge’s sixth career triple would have been a homer in 28 of 30 ballparks (not Arizona or Cleveland).

Key stat

The Yankees missed several chances to blow the game open. They stranded 13 runners and struck out 14 times.

Up next

Both teams are off Thursday. The Yankees open a home series against Toronto on Friday with Carlos Carrasco (2-1, 6.53 ERA) making his fifth start of 2025. Cleveland begins a series at home against Boston on Friday with Ben Lively (1-2, 3.86) pitching.