Cody Bellinger hit three home runs — nearly four — and Carlos Rodon pitched a gem as the Yankees beat up on the Cubs, 11-0, on Friday night.
It’s the 40th time in franchise history a Yankee has had a three-home run game. It’s the first of Bellinger’s career.
The Yankees picked up 15 hits with every Yankees starter having at least one hit, except for Aaron Judge — but he made up for it in other ways. And five starters (Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez, Paul Goldschmidt, Oswald Peraza, Ben Rice) had multi-hit games.
Here are the takeaways…
– It took the Yankees until the eighth inning on Thursday to get their first hit — it wouldn’t take that long on Friday, as they scratched out their first hit with a leadoff infield single by Oswald Peraza in the third. Jasson Dominguez, starting in the leadoff spot for the fourth straight game, followed with a single of his own to give the Yankees runners on the corners with no outs for Aaron Judge. The frontrunner for AL MVP lofted a sac fly to put up the game’s first run.
Bellinger, facing the Cubs for the first time since being traded, dropped the hammer on a Chris Flexen curveball and sent it 371 feet just over the right-center field wall. The longball extended his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games. But the first-year Yankee wasn’t done; he would hit another two-run blast in the fifth, taking lefty Caleb Thielbar nearly to the second deck in right field to put the Yankees up 5-0.
It’s his 18th career multi-homer game. The first since September 2023, when he was with the Cubs.
Bellinger, who has never had a three-home game before, nearly achieved that feat in the seventh, lining a deep drive to right field, but Kyle Tucker made an incredible leaping grab at the wall to rob the slugger. But Bellinger would get that one back in the eighth, taking Jordan Wicks deep just over the wall in right-center for his 16th homer of the season.
– Anthony Volpe, who has had a tough season, assisted Judge in Thursday’s win with an incredible slide at home to complete the comeback. And the Yankee Stadium fans were appreciative, giving the shortstop a nice ovation during roll-call and every time he came to bat. And Volpe rewarded the fans with an RBI double in the sixth, bringing the more than 46,000 in attendance to their feet.
– The day he was named to the All-Star Game, Carlos Rodon was dealing on Friday night. After scattering three singles in the first three innings, Rodon retired 15 straight Cubs and was through seven innings on just 84 pitches. That streak ended with a one-out walk in the eighth, but the southpaw bounced back, getting a force out, however, a single from Nico Hoerner put runners on the corners with two outs.
Manager Aaron Boone came out but left Rodon out there to take on Tucker. Rodon and Tucker battled to a 3-2 count, but the Cubs slugger lofted the ball toward the right field line, but Judge, again, slid and made the impressive catch to end the inning.
Rodon threw 109 pitches (70 strikes) in eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits, one walk and striking out eight batters. It’s the longest outing of Rodon’s Yankees career.
– Pete Crow-Armstrong, who received the largest ovation for a non-Yankee, had Yankee Stadium on its feet in his second at-bat in the fourth. He launched a long flyball to right field. But Judge got to the wall and timed his jump perfectly to rob the young outfielder of a home run.
Judge then robbed Dansby Swanson of a single by diving headfirst for the catch.
PCA nearly had another hit in the seventh when he hit a soft tapper to first base and almost outran Rodon as they raced to the bag. After a replay review, the call on the field, of out, was confirmed.
Game MVP: Cody Bellinger
Could pick Bellinger, Rodon or Judge but we’ll go with the guy who hit three bombs, and was a few inches short of four.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees continue their three-game set with the Cubs on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.
Max Fried (11-2, 2.27 ERA) will make his final start before the All-Star break, while the Cubs send Matt Boyd (9-3, 2.52 ERA)