Sweeps at home against Cleveland are the kind of thing that sit in your chest for a week, so getting out of this Guardians series with a win felt less like a victory lap and more like exhaling. Rodon wasn't dominant, but he was better, which has been the entire story arc with him this year — incremental, frustrating, but trending the right direction. Behind him, the pen actually did pen things.
The fireworks, as usual lately, came from Jazz. He's been the most watchable Yankee in a stretch where the offense has otherwise looked like it's wading through wet cement, and he reminded everyone why the front office stuck with him at the hot corner / wherever they're playing him this week.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. turning on a 3-2 sinker and depositing it in the seats at the Stadium.
That's the swing of a guy who knows the building is his. The Bronx eats that stuff up, and the broadcast booth basically had to take a knee. Of course, a solo shot only gets you so far when the lineup is grinding — you still need somebody to come through with traffic on the bases, and that's where Mac stepped in.
Ryan McMahon delivering a two-out RBI knock to flip a 1-1 game into a 2-1 Yankees lead in the 7th.
Two-out RISP hitting has been the white whale for this lineup, so a Mac single to push the go-ahead run across in the 7th is exactly the kind of at-bat that turns a frustrating series into a wash you can live with. Sweep avoided. Rodon trending. Pen lights out. Jazz being Jazz. You take the W and you get on the plane.
A Bee Movie-coded victory lap on the Chisholm trot, because of course.
Do ya like Jazz? In June, in the Bronx, with the lineup in a fog and the rotation still figuring itself out — yeah, you better.