Oswaldo Cabrera homers as Yankees top Guardians in Game 1

Oswaldo Cabrera clubbed a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the visiting New York Yankees stayed hot with a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in the opener of Saturday's split doubleheader.

Cabrera, in his third major-league season, had homered 11 times entering this year. However, his third home run of 2024, with a man on in a 1-0 game, was the difference as the Yankees improved to 11-3 -- and 7-1 away from home.

New York's Clarke Schmidt (1-0) allowed three hits and five walks, but struck out seven, and yielded those two runs -- one earned -- while pitching into the sixth. Clay Holmes gave up a lead-off double to Ramon Laureano in the ninth, then got the next three batters for his sixth save.

Back with the Guardians and making his first home start at Cleveland since 2020, Carlos Carrasco (0-1) grinded through 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and five walks, but only one run. Andres Gimenez had two of the five hits for Cleveland, which has lost two of three following a five-game winning streak.

New York opened the scoring in the second when it loaded the bases after Carrasco walked Alex Verdugo and Cabrera and yielded a single to Jose Trevino. However, the Yankees managed only one run when Trent Grisham grounded into a double play.

The Yankees loaded the bags with one out in the fourth, but another Carrasco-induced double play off the bat of Grisham got the Guardians out unscathed.

With Cleveland's Nick Sandlin on in the sixth, Verdugo led off with his second double, and Cabrera followed with a sky-high ball that cleared the right-field wall.

The Guardians made it a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth. After Steven Kwan and Gimenez opened the frame with consecutive singles to chase Schmidt, Josh Naylor drew his third walk of the day.

New York appeared out of the inning when Caleb Ferguson got Tyler Freeman to hit a ground ball near second base, where Gleyber Torres gloved it and stepped on the bag. However, Torres threw wildly to first, allowing the Guardians to score twice on the error.