Slumping Yankees rally from early hole to down Indians 6-3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rougned Odor's two-out, two-run single broke a seventh-inning tie — and maybe jarred New York from its hitting funk — and sent the Yankees to a 6-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

Odor was batting just .107 and in a 3-for-28 slide when he came up against Nick Wittgren (0-1). He slapped his single through the middle to score Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres to break a 3-3 tie as the Yankees got just their second win in eight games.

Kyle Higashioka homered in the eighth for New York, which entered with its worst record to open a season since 1991, when Stump Merrill managed and Don Mattingly manned first base.

Domingo Germán (1-2) returned from a demotion to the alternate training site and shook off falling behind 3-0 in the first. He lasted six innings and won the first time since serving a suspension under baseball's domestic violence policy that started in September 2019 and ended his season with an 18-4 record.

Jonathan Loaisiga and Chad Green combined for two innings of relief, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side around a walk in the ninth for his third save.

The Yankees came in batting an AL-worst .205, embarrassing for a team loaded with talent and boasting a $200 million payroll.

Boone tweaked his lineup — and rested struggling sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sánchez — in hopes of sparking his team.

“I remain really confident that our group is going to turn this around offensively and I look forward to the fun that comes along with that,” Boone said before the game. "We’re not doing what I know we will do.”

The Indians, who lost to New York in last season's wild-card round, have dropped four of five and soured manager Terry Francona's 62nd birthday.

Germán didn't...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Slumping-Yankees-rally-from-early-hole-to-down-16122562.php