Bellinger delivers in 10th as Yankees outlast Guardians 7-5

Cody Bellinger broke the deadlock with a two-run single in the 10th inning, sending the Yankees past the Guardians 7-5 and turning a tense night at Progressive Field into a much-needed extra-inning win. New York had been winless in its previous four extra-inning games, and this one finally swung when the Yankees came through again with runners on base.

Paul Goldschmidt opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning, giving New York an early 2-0 lead, and Ryan McMahon later added a homer of his own. Cleveland answered with a two-run shot from Angel Martínez in the fifth, a swing that put the Guardians ahead 5-4 and forced the Yankees to keep chasing through the late innings.

Goldschmidt kept the game alive by driving in the tying run in the eighth, setting up a finish that felt increasingly like a test of lineup depth rather than star power alone. In the 10th, Cleveland placed Ali Sánchez as the automatic runner and intentionally walked Ben Rice with one out, but Bellinger followed by driving in the winning runs off Shawn Armstrong. David Bednar earned the victory, and Armstrong took the loss.

The Yankees’ bullpen did the rest, with Ryan Yarbrough, Jake Bird, Camilo Doval, Tim Hill and Bednar combining for 5 2/3 scoreless innings to close out the game. That stretch mattered as much as the bats: New York survived a back-and-forth game in which Cleveland kept threatening to take control, then finally finished it once the late-game pitching settled in.

The win came in the series opener and lifted New York to 39-26, while Cleveland fell to 37-31. After 3 hours, 41 minutes in front of 29,517 fans, the Yankees left with a result that underscored how often this club is leaning on a deeper set of contributors to survive games that stay tighter than expected.