New York Yankees at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

New York Yankees

82-60, 45-29 Away

Final
2 - 0

Chicago Cubs

72-70, 37-33 Home

Yankees clinch 32nd straight winning season by blanking the Cubs for the 2nd straight day

Schmidt pitched 4 2/3 innings of four-hit ball in his first big league game since May 26. Cortes (9-10) closed it out in his first relief appearance since 2021.

Coupled with Baltimore's 7-1 loss to Tampa Bay, New York moved back into first in the AL East. The Yankees (82-60) lead the Orioles by a half-game.

Cortes admitted he was upset when he learned he was going to pitch in relief.

“I’m never going to back down from a challenge,” Cortes said. “I’m never going to leave my teammates out to dry. You’re always going to get my best effort no matter if I’m happy or not. That’s what I did today. I came out there and proved I can be put in any situation. From here on out, if that’s my role, I’ll accept it.”

Schmidt had been sidelined by a right lat strain. He threw 75 pitches, 44 for strikes.

"I felt like I still had a lot of strength and I wasn’t fatiguing at all,” Schmidt said.

New York posted its second straight shutout to secure its first series win since it took two of three against Colorado from Aug. 23-25. The 32 straight seasons with a winning record is the second-longest such period in major league history, trailing a run of 39 consecutive seasons for the Yankees from 1926-64.

Chicago (72-70) has lost four of five on a crucial homestand as it tries to rally in the race for the third NL wild card. It beat Pittsburgh 12-0 on Wednesday, but it has managed a total of three other runs in its last five games, getting shut out three times.

“We feel like we have a good enough ballclub to be in the playoffs and in the picture, but we’re going to have to play a little bit better and keep pushing here,” left fielder Ian Happ said.

Cubs right-hander Javier Assad (7-5) allowed one earned run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

New York scored its first run when Austin Wells drove in Gleyber Torres with a groundout in the first. The Yankees made it 2-0 in the sixth when Aaron Judge swiped third as part of a double steal and scampered home on catcher Christian Bethancourt’s throwing error.

Judge, who leads the majors with 51 homers, went 0 for 3 with a walk. He hasn’t homered in 11 games in his longest streak of the season.

The Cubs had their best scoring opportunity in the fifth. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled with one out, but was caught stealing. Patrick Wisdom then tripled to right, but he was stranded when Cortes got Bethancourt to foul out.

“He handled it really well, came into a high-leverage situation with a runner on third and got the job done,” Wells said of Cortes. “From there, cruised.”

Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo heard more cheers in his second game back at Wrigley Field since he was traded by Chicago to New York in July 2021. He tipped his cap before his first at-bat and reached second on Crow-Armstrong’s dropped catch in center.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Schmidt and RHP Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) were reinstated from the 60-day injured list before the game. RHPs Phil Bickford and Nick Burdi were designated for assignment.

Cubs: LHP Justin Steele (left elbow tendinitis) was scheduled to play catch Saturday. He went on the 15-day IL on Wednesday. ... RHP Hayden Wesneski (right forearm strain) threw an inning at Triple-A Iowa.

RHP Gerrit Cole (6-3, 3.65 ERA) is slated to start for New York on Sunday on his 34th birthday. RHP Jameson Taillon (9-8, 3.66 ERA) takes the mound for Chicago in the finale of the weekend set. Taillon went 22-11 with a 4.08 ERA with the Yankees in 2021 and 2022.

How can I watch New York Yankees vs. Chicago Cubs?

TV Channel: Yankees at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on ERADM.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Cubs: 50.1%

Yankees: 49.9%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Bellinger grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Suzuki grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Paredes grounded out to pitcher.
	9th Inning	Paredes hit for Busch
	9th Inning	Torres grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Verdugo struck out swinging.

Statistics

NYY		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	13
7	Strikeouts	5
1	Runs Batted In	0
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
4	Hits	4
2	Stolen Bases	0
6	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	0
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
31	At Bats	29
0	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
19	Runners Left On Base	7
0	Triples	1
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	0
15	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	2
152	Pitches	123
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
4	Total Bases	6
37	Plate Appearances	31
0.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
0	Extra Base Hits	1
1.2	Runs Created	0.0
.129	Batting Average	.138
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.129	Slugging Percentage	.207
.258	Secondary Average	.069
.270	On Base Percentage	.194
.399	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.400
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
1.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.0
12.0	Batter Rating	6.5
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.11	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.97
.000	Isolated Power	.069
0.86	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.162	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.065
.129	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.069
3.0	Runs Produced	0.0
0.5	Runs Ratio	0.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.2
63.5	MLB Rating	61.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0