Guardians' series win in New York a promising early sign

NEW YORK -- The Guardians would have loved to complete their second series sweep at Yankee Stadium since the ballpark opened in 2009. They ultimately came up short after suffering a 2-1 loss to the Yankees on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series, but that was far from Cleveland’s top takeaway from its trip to New York this week.

Picking up a series victory over a top American League postseason contender, one with the Yankees’ firepower, stands as more evidence for what the Guardians already feel they’re capable of.

“We can compete against any team in this league,” starter Slade Cecconi said. “That's what it says.”

Yes, the Guardians’ pitching staff did not have to deal with Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton, both of whom missed the entire three-game series due to injury. But a Cleveland lineup stacked with young hitters was against three of New York’s top starters this week in Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón, and it nearly came away with its first sweep in the Bronx since Aug. 28-30, 2017.

The Guardians toppled Schlittler and Cole in wins over New York on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the former, they erased Yankees leads of 2-1 and a 3-2 before pulling away for a 9-4 win. They did not look daunted against Cole en route to a 5-4 win on Wednesday.

“It just shows we're competitive,” outfielder Steven Kwan said. “We're gonna stay in the fight on a lot of those. We had a plan and followed it.”

Manager Stephen Vogt’s ballclub faced another tall task in Rodón on Thursday afternoon. Rodón allowed just one run on two hits and three walks over six innings while racking up seven strikeouts. Cecconi was just as good; he allowed one run on four hits and one walk over six innings with four strikeouts.

“Slade was phenomenal,” Vogt said. “He did a great job keeping us in that game. We knew going into it that it needed to be a low-scoring affair. Rodón was special over there as well, but I thought Slade threw the ball excellently.”

Thursday’s pitchers' duel turned into a coin flip, and the difference came in the seventh inning. The Yankees put together the go-ahead rally against Guardians reliever Codi Heuer. Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a one-out walk, stole second base with two outs and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Chisholm scored on a ground-ball RBI single by Ryan McMahon just out of the reach of second baseman Travis Bazzana to his left.

Vogt tried a unique lineup configuration in an attempt to maximize the Guardians’ offense against Rodón. Cleveland slotted three right-handed hitters atop the order against the left-hander in David Fry (who drew his first career start in the leadoff spot), José Ramírez (a switch-hitter) and Rhys Hoskins.

Fry went 0-for-4, though Ramírez sparked the Guardians’ only rally. He hit a leadoff single in the fourth, stole second base and came around to score on a two-out single by Stuart Fairchild.

“Obviously, I don't know if there was a configuration today that would have led to more hits,” Vogt said. “Rodón was really good, got a lot of swing-and-miss against us. He made pitches when he had to.”

Prognosticators’ expectations for the Guardians this season were a mixed bag. Cleveland had a quiet offseason. It entered 2026 counting on a cast of young hitters taking another step developmentally as the answer to their lineup’s struggles in ‘25. There is a lot of variance in young players’ production.

Cleveland ranked 28th in the Majors in runs per game (3.97) last year. There have been some ups and downs this year, but the progress has been evident behind contributions from youngsters such as Bazzana, Chase DeLauter, Angel Martínez, Kyle Manzardo and Brayan Rocchio.

Among other contributions, Manzardo hit two homers this series and had three extra-base hits on Wednesday. Bazzana tallied a career-high four RBIs in Tuesday’s win.

There is a long way to go this season. Cleveland has completed less than two-fifths of its schedule. But a series like this one can go a long way toward the club’s confidence as it looks to sustain the success we’ve seen thus far.

“We have a lot of really, really high-quality young players that are just getting better and better and learning and growing in this game,” Cecconi said. “That's dangerous, especially when you look at where we're at right now in June.

“If this team for the next four months just continues to learn, grow, and build on the experiences that we go through, it's going to be a dangerous team down the stretch. That's our goal, is to play our best baseball when it matters the most.”