Yanks take rubber match from Tribe behind stellar bullpen effort

The New York Yankees finished their six-game road trip taking two of three from the Cleveland Indians with a 4-2 victory at Progressive Field yesterday afternoon. The Yanks received three more hits from Nick Swisher; and Curtis Granderson hit his 200th career homer to provide insurance for a sparkling bullpen effort.

Yankees starter Freddy Garcia was yanked with two-outs in the fifth despite allowing only four hits and two walks while striking out six. Manager Joe Girardi wanted to go to his lefty Boone Logan with runners at first and third following Carlos Santana‘s two-run single making the score 3-2. Logan did the job getting Michael Brantley to ground out to first base for the final out of the inning.

The Yankees scored three runs in the top of the second inning off Cleveland starter Ubaldo Jimenez. Ichiro Suzuki began the scoring with a RBI-single. Derek Jeter plated a runner with a run-scoring ground out and Swisher laced a single to left to score Suzuki.

Granderson led off the top of the sixth inning and greeted Tony Sipp by driving his 33rd home run of the season to right field. The bullpen took it from there. Logan worked a perfect sixth inning and retired the first batter of the seventh before giving way to David Robertson after a Jason Kipnis single. Robertson recorded the final two outs of the inning and then the first two outs of the ninth.

Closer Rafael Soriano ended the eighth and worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to notch his 33rd save of the season. Soriano had a bit of a scare when Kipnis lined one straight back to the mound. Soriano got a glove and his bare hand on the ball before it inflicted any damage.

The Yankees (74-53) upped their lead in the AL East to four games over idle Tampa Bay. The Baltimore Orioles are also lurking, sitting 4.5 back of the Bombers. The Yankees are back at the Stadium tonight with David Phelps (3-4, 2.69 ERA) on the mound to face Toronto Blue Jays righty Henderson Alvarez (7-11, 4.84 ERA).

The game begins a 22-game stretch for the Yankees in which they will only face teams from the AL East. They play six games against Toronto, six against the Rays, seven versus the Orioles and three opposite the Boston Red Sox over the time period. The stretch run begins tonight!