Cubs win in Yankee Stadium for first time ever |
NEW YORK - The best part about the New Balanced MLB Schedule is that every team will face everyone at least once during the season. That means more interleague games and less time between when you meet interleague opponents as new rivals may be formed.
When it comes to the Chicago Cubs (41-46), they have played at least five games in over 100 ballparks, with the New Yankee Stadium as the only park to have never won a game in. You had to think that was going to change at some point, and all it took was the best start of the season from Jameson Taillon for that to happen as the Cubs shut out the New York Yankees (48-41) 3-0 for their first ever win at the new Yankee Stadium. Perhaps all Taillon needed to get back on track was some home sweet home as the Cubs right-hander returned to the Bronx to deliver his best outing of the season. Not only did Taillon hold the Yankees to one hit, but he did so across eight innings, as this was the longest shutout outing since May 27, 2022. Taillon walked two and struck out four as he threw more than 100 pitches for the first time this season. “I just needed an outing like this period,” Taillon said. “I have a lot of love for those guys over there, so it’s not like I wanted to stick it to them. This wasn’t like any sort of revenge game or anything like that. … But it does feel good on this stage in New York City to have a good night.” The Cubs needed every bit of those pitches as Carlos Rodon returned to the mound to make his season and Yankees debut. Coming off a great 2022 season, Rodon was one of the most coveted pitchers this offseason and elected to sign with the Yankees. Things have only gone downhill from there, as he suffered a shoulder injury during spring and was put on the IL shortly after. Rodon returned to the mound on Friday for his long-awaited Yankees debut and did a great job keeping the Yankees in the game, allowing two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two, but a limited pitch count forced him out of the game before he could get through six innings. Ironically, the first of the Yankees two hits came in the first inning when former Cubs farmhand Gleyber Torres picked up a one-out single in the first before being left stranded on the bases. That was not only the lone hit off of Taillon but also the lone one for most of the night as Taillon dominated his former team on the mound. With Rodon going six up and six down to start his outing, the suddenly scorching hot Cody Bellinger picked up the Cubs first hit of the game as he led off the top of the third with a long Belli-bomb to right. Bellinger has never hit lefties well, but for whatever reason, he has done that this season as he is currently on a 13-game hitting streak and is hitting close to .300 this year. Nico Hoerner added a single later in the inning, but nothing more came from it. Holding that 1-0 lead in the fifth and given how well Taillon looked up to this point, you had to think one or more runs would be enough for the Cubs to pick up the win, but the fifth inning has been an issue for Taillon this season. Leave it to Trey Mancini and Miguel Amaya to set things up as they worked a pair of walks to put two men on base before Hoerner pushed the lead to 2-0 with a single. Following that first-inning hit from Taillon, he was near-perfect the rest of the way as he retired the next 13 hitters he faced until he walked another former Cubs prospect Billy McKinney, in the fifth. With Ian Happ leading off the sixth with a single and having Christopher Morel take a one-out walk, the Cubs offense was in a position to do more damage, only to have an inning-ending double play erased that chance. The same can't be said about the seventh when Bellinger led things off with a single to help set the Cub's offense again. Bellinger has been on a tear during this 13-game hitting streak as he has gone 23-47 for a near .500 average. Bellinger would later swipe second base to put himself in scoring position before coming home to score on the Patrick Wisdom double to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. That was more than enough for Taillon as a walk to Giancarlo Stanton in the seventh was the final baserunner he would allow before getting through the eighth with the shutout intact. Looking to lock things down, the Cubs turned to what looks to be their closer in Adbert Alzolay, needing just three outs to finish the job. Alzolay didn't get off to the best start on the mound as Franchy Cordero opened the inning with a leadoff single for the first Yankee hit since the first inning. One pitch later saw the Cubs one out away from finishing the job as Alzolay got Anthony Volpe to ground into a double play. Alzolay finished things off from there as he struck out Torres to end the game and picked up his sixth save. “The way that we did it, we had some really productive at-bats there,” outfielder Ian Happ said. “Nico there with that big RBI. It was a really solid all-around game for us.” The Cubs had seven hits in the game, with Bellinger and Hoerner leading the way with two.
