New York Yankees’ Juan Soto, right, is congratulated by Aaron Judge after Soto’s three-run home run off Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Triston McKenzie during the fourth inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader Saturday, April 13, 2024, in Cleveland.
AP Photo | David Dermer
CLEVELAND — Juan Soto hit a three-run homer and Cody Poteet pitched six solid innings in his debut for New York as the Yankees won 8-2 to sweep a doubleheader on Saturday over the Cleveland Guardians and continue one of the strongest starts in their storied history.
New York took the opener 3-2.
The Yankees are 12-3 for the seventh time and first since 2003, when they made one of their 40 trips to the World Series. They’re 8-1 on the road.
Soto, acquired by the club in an offseason trade from San Diego to put New York back on top, connected in the fourth off Triston McKenzie (1-2), who struggled from the outset and walked six in four innings.
Poteet (1-0) allowed one run and six hits while picking up his first win since 2021 — 1,056 days ago — with Miami. The 29-year-old did not pitch in the majors last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022.
He signed a contract in January with New York to add pitching depth after the Yankees traded some of it away in the deal for Soto.
One of the few bright spots for Cleveland was Estevan Florial, who homered in the fifth inning to help avert a shutout. Florial was once rated New York’s top prospect before the club traded him to the Guardians in December.
Josh Naylor also homered in Game 2 for the Guardians, who are 1-9 in their last five doubleheaders.
Already down 3-0 following Anthony Volpe’s RBI single, McKenzie grooved a 3-0 fastball that Soto pounded over the wall in center for his third homer with New York.
In the opener, the Yankees got a two-run homer from Oswaldo Cabrera and survived a scary ninth inning by closer Clay Holmes to improve to 5-0 in one-run games.
New York starter Clarke Schmidt (1-0) allowed one run over five-plus innings before manager Aaron Boone turned to his solid bullpen.
Caleb Ferguson pitched one inning, Ian Hamilton went two and Boone brought in Holmes, who gave up a double to Ramon Laureano — a shot into a stiff wind off Lake Erie.
“April in Cleveland helped us out there a little bit,” Boone said, smiling.
Holmes shook off the hit by striking out two and getting a groundout for his sixth save.
“That was a good win to hang onto,” Holmes said.
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco (0-1) held the Yankees to one run in 4 2/3 innings in Game 1.
It was Carrasco’s first start in Cleveland since 2020, when he faced New York in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. Two months later, he was traded to the Mets as part of the blockbuster Francisco Lindor deal.
“It was really nice pitching back here in Cleveland with the fans, all that kind of stuff,” Carrasco said. “It was really emotional for me.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: 3B DJ LeMahieu (broken foot) is “doing really well,” according to Boone and “getting close” to rejoining the club. LeMahieu will have to play in some minor league games before being activated. … INF Jon Berti (groin) was placed on the 10-day IL between games. He got hurt trying to beat out an infield single earlier in the week.
Guardians: RHP Gavin Williams (elbow soreness) will pitch a two-inning simulated game on Monday in Arizona. Williams got hurt while throwing a weighted ball in spring training before a start on March 9. The team initially thought he would only miss a week.
UP NEXT
Yankees LHP Nestor Cortes (1-1, 3.50 ERA) starts the series finale against LHP Logan Allen (2-0, 4.60). Cortes pitched eight scoreless innings in his previous outing against Miami.
