The Yankees edged the Cubs in the series finale at Wrigley Field

In another low scoring game, the Yankees beat the Chicago Cubs 2–1 in the series finale to win the series two games to one. The Yankees did not score more than two runs in any of their two wins in the series. They won the series opener 2–0 over the Cubs after Will Warren threw 6.2 scoreless innings on Friday night.

The Yankees have now gone 9–5 in their last 14 games. The pitching has been a strength in those 14 games and the offense has been a weakness. They have scored three runs or less in seven of those nine wins. The Yankees have gone 5–4 when scoring two runs or less since the All-Star break. The rest of MLB is 16–131 when scoring two runs or less since the All-Star break. Overall, the Yankees are now 7–24 (.226 winning percentage) in games when scoring two runs or fewer this season. That’s the 3rd best record in MLB, behind the Brewers and White Sox (both 9–23, .281).

After losing Saturday’s game 5–2, the Yankees had allowed just two runs by the starting pitchers in a four-game span but had just one win in those four games through Saturday. That was the first time in franchise history the Yankees had a 4-game span with two or fewer runs allowed by starting pitchers and one team win or fewer. That proves the dominance of the starting pitching and the ineptitude of the offensive output.

The Yankees scored their two runs in the series opener on two solo homers by Amed Rosario and Spencer Jones. In that game, they went 0–3 with runners in scoring position and hit into one double play.

In the series finale on Sunday at the friendly confines, the Yankees scored their two runs off of a Jose Caballero two-run homer in the third inning. His 408 foot homer scored Ryan McMahon, who had singled to begin the inning off of Cubs starting pitcher Colin Rea. Rea had a 4.67 ERA in his 22 games (18 starts) coming into this game but he lowered his ERA to 4.59 after allowing just two runs and three hits in six innings pitched.

Caballero went 2–3 with two RBI from his two-run homer. He ended an 18-game drought without hitting a homer. The rest of the offense went a combined 3–30 with nine strikeouts. Caballero has hit well recently since he is 6–14 with one double, three RBI and four steals in his last five games. His has raised his OBP from .287 to .295 in his last five games. Caballero now has 11 homers in 96 games this season after having five homers in 126 games last season. Ben Rice went 0–4 with three strikeouts and he is now 2-21 with nine strikeouts in his last six games plated.

The one through four batters in the lineup went 1–16 with six strikeouts but Caballero, who was the number eight hitter in the lineup, gave the Yankees the homer that ended up being the game winner in the third inning. The two runs were all the Yankees would need since Gerrit Cole and the bullpen were dominant in this game.

Cole allowed just one run in his 5.2 innings pitched while throwing 63 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He allowed four hits, three walks and recorded five total strikeouts. After his first three strikeouts in this game, Cole tied Masahiro Tanaka for 13th place on the franchise strikeout list with 991. After his fourth strikeout, he was in sole possession of 13th place. He needs just 21 more strikeouts to tie Roger Clemens for 12th place on the franchise strikeout list.

Cole now has a 3.42 ERA in his 13 starts this season. He missed last season due to having Tommy John surgery during spring training of 2025. He had a 3.41 ERA in his 17 starts in 2024 and won his first Cy Young of his career with a 2.63 ERA and a 165 ERA+ in 33 starts in 2023. He has finished top five in Cy Young voting six times in his career.

Cole threw a first pitch strike to 16 of the 23 batters that he faced in this game. He has now had two stellar starts in a row after throwing six scoreless innings with four hits allowed and seven strikeouts against the White Sox in Chicago on Tuesday in the second game of that series. In Cole’s last two starts, he has lowered his ERA from 3.92 to 3.42 after allowing one run in 11.2 innings. He has allowed two runs or less in eight of his 13 starts this season.

The likely future Hall of Famer retired the side in order in the second and third innings and the third inning ended with Pete Crow-Armstrong flying out to right. In the fourth inning, Seiya Suzuki, who is in his fifth MLB season with the Cubs after coming over from Japan, doubled to center to start the inning and then Michael Busch singled to right to score Suzuki for the only run the Cubs would score in the game. Suzuki has 18 homers, 19 doubles and a .840 OPS in 95 games this season. Busch, who was a first round pick by the Dodgers in 2019 out of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has 18 doubles, 60 RBI and a .356 OBP in 111 games this season.

Cole got Alex Bregman, who is a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, to hit into a double play after Busch’s RBI single and then got Ian Happ to ground out to second to end the inning. With Nico Hoerner on second after getting his 17th steal of his season, Cole struck out catcher Miguel Amaya swinging on a 90 mph slider to end the fifth inning. Amaya went 1–6 with four strikeouts in this series. The Cubs went just 1–9 with runners in scoring position in this game.

Cole was taken out of the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning. He walked Happ after a six pitch at-bat to load the bases. Brent Headrick was then brought into the game after that walk and got Hoerner to fly out to center to end the inning and strand three runners. Headrick executed well on his pitches when he needed to in order to keep the Cubs at one run and keep Cole in line for the win, which was his 158th of his career. He is in an eight way tie for 234th all time and he has the third most wins among active pitchers behind Max Scherzer (222 wins) and Justin Verlander (266 wins).

Headrick then retired the side in order on three strikeouts in the seventh inning and that inning ended with him striking out Amaya swinging. Headrick threw 1.1 perfect innings and recorded his 15th hold of his season. He has now allowed just two runs in his last 25 games in a span of 27.2 innings to lower his ERA from 2.03 to 1.42.

Paul Blackburn got the first two outs of the eighth inning but also walked two batters. This was only the third time out of his 40 games this season that he has walked more than one batter. Blackburn, who is a 6-foot-1 righty, has allowed just three earned runs in his last 19 games in a span of 28 innings to lower his ERA from 3.03 to 2.08. He was taken out of the game after Bregman’s fly out to center advanced Crow-Armstrong to third. Blackburn and Headrick have been two of the best set up men in the American League this season.

Yankees closer David Bednar came into the game with runners on first and third and two outs in the eighth inning and got Happ to fly out to left to end the inning. Happ, who is in his 10th MLB season after being drafted in the first round by the Cubs in 2015, went 1–10 with three strikeouts in this series against the Yankees.

After Bednar allowed a one out walk to Pedro Ramirez, he got a ground out and then got pinch hitter Michael Conforto to strike out looking on a 90 mph splitter to end the game and the series. Three of the four pitches that Bednar threw to Conforto were splitters. Conforto played the first seven seasons of his career with the Mets. He was on the San Francisco Giants in 2023 and 2024, the Dodgers last season and now has a .780 OPS and a 115 OPS+ in 75 games with the Cubs this season.

Bednar threw 17 of his 23 pitches for strikes and he threw a first pitch strike to three of the five batters he faced. He has been one of the best relief pitchers in Major League Baseball since the end of May. In his 24 games since May 22, he has allowed just two runs in 27.1 innings pitched. In those 24 games, Bednar has lowered his ERA from 5.14 to 2.61. He has recorded a save in each of the last six games he has pitched in. His 24 saves are tied for sixth most in MLB and the 31-year-old is tied for the fourth most saves in the AL.

The Yankees got 3.1 scoreless innings from Blackburn, Headrick and Bednar to win two out of three at Wrigley. In the first game of the series, the Yankees got 2.1 scoreless innings from Blackburn and Bednar to finish off a 2–0 win.

Catcher Austin Wells paid tribute to former Yankees captain and catcher Thurman Munson with his custom catcher’s gear on the 47th anniversary of Munson passing in a tragic plane crash. Munson was a first round pick by the Yankees in 1968 and played all 11 seasons of his career with the Yankees. He was Rookie of the Year in 1970 and MVP in 1976 after having 17 homers, 17 doubles, 105 RBI, 14 steals and a 126 OPS+. When the Yankees won the World Series in 1977 for the first time in 14 seasons, he had 18 homers, 28 doubles, 100 RBI, an .813 OPS, a 121 OPS+ and finished 7th in MVP voting. In the 1977 World Series, Munson had a .320 average (8–25) with a .890 OPS, one homer and two doubles in six games.

“It came up a little bit last year around Old Timers’ Day and then two years ago I met his wife, so I thought it would be really cool to do something to honor him,” Wells said. I was able to actually plan it out this year and get it done. It came out awesome. A couple of my teammates were confused but once they knew what today was, the anniversary of his death, they thought it was awesome and a really cool tribute. I think what Munson meant to the team stood out. His leadership ability and the fire he had behind the plate. Obviously, he was an incredible player and a team captain. It’s hard not to root for that guy.