Yanks feeling right at home in Cleveland with convincing sweep of Guards

CLEVELAND -- While there had been an undercurrent of Yankees support bubbling through the first two games of New York’s series against the Guardians at Progressive Field, it reached a fever pitch in the eighth inning of their 8-4 win on Wednesday afternoon.

With the crowd thinning out as the Yankees' victory got closer and closer, the chants of “Let’s Go Yankees” began to fill the lower bowl.

By the time Ryan McMahon snared an Angel Martínez liner to end the game, Progressive Field seemed more like Yankee Stadium West than Cleveland’s home park.

But instead of Frank Sinatra’s “Theme From New York, New York” playing over the speakers, it was Modest Mouse’s “Float On,” which the Guardians play after every home loss.

Thanks to the Yankees, it may be a song Guardians fans hear in their nightmares for the foreseeable future.

After close wins in the first two games of the series, the Yankees picked up an easier win Wednesday thanks to a solid offensive showing.

Three games, three appearances of “Float On.”

“Just a really outstanding series against a really good team over there,” manager Aaron Boone said.

There was no inning that encapsulated that series win more than the top of the sixth inning.

After Amed Rosario opened the inning with a strikeout, it looked as if outfielder Trent Grisham was also going to walk to the dugout after home-plate umpire Mark Wegner rang him up on a high pitch that was changed to a ball after an Automated Ball-Strike Challenge.

Instead, Grisham ended up lining a ball into the right-field corner that Martínez overran for a triple. He came around to score a batter later on a sacrifice fly to shallow left field from José Caballero that featured an assist from Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was behind home plate directing Grisham where to slide.

The other two runs in the inning came on an Anthony Volpe double and a Paul Goldschmidt single.

“He had a great week and is in a really good place swinging the bat,” Boone said of Grisham. “He’s playing really well right now.”

That was the second big inning of the day that the Yankees set up with a triple, as they scored three runs in the second inning thanks to a two-run triple from Chisholm to right field that would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium.

He came around to score a batter later on a fielding error from second baseman Travis Bazzana.

All that backed up Carlos Rodón, who went six innings and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks while also striking out seven.

His start nearly came undone in the fourth inning when he gave up two runs and had to throw 23 pitches in 81-degree heat, which led to Ryan Weathers (Friday’s scheduled starter) warming up in the bullpen.

“My command was lacking a little bit, but all in all, we won the game and the boys swung the bat well,” Rodón said. “It’s definitely summer now. It was warm, but that’s part of the gig. There’s a job to be done.”

Boone had previously gone to Weathers the night before and told him that he may turn to him in relief due to how much the Yankees had needed their bullpen over the first two games of the series, and Weathers told him he was game.

But Boone ended up staying with Rodón after he needed just nine pitches to get through the fifth. So, instead of Weathers saving the day on Wednesday, he’ll take the ball on Friday.

“I think I’m glad we didn’t use him,” Boone said with a smile.

Weathers being ready to take the ball in relief was a good summation of the Yankees’ series in Cleveland. While it ended with a sweep of the American League Central-leading Guardians, it was a complete team effort, whether it be using almost all their pitchers on Monday or Chisholm coming in clutch late on Tuesday.

That’s going to be life for the foreseeable future now that Aaron Judge is down, and this week proved the Yankees are ready to handle this period without their captain.

“Nothing changes for everybody in the building,” Grisham said of life without Judge. “We know what a great player he is and how much he means, but everyone talks about that on the outside. It’s business as usual on the inside. It’ll be a different guy every night.”