Game Recap: Boyd silences Yankees in big-time Cubs win

Gregory Fisher - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 7 hours ago

BRONX - When the Chicago Cubs (56-39) signed Matthew Boyd this offseason, the goal was for him to be the No. 4 or No. 5 starter in the rotation and hopefully give the Cubs 25 starts. Here we are approaching the all-star break, and Boyd has not only been the steal of the offseason, but has emerged as the Cubs' Ace this season.

The first-time all-star cemented his case against Max Fried and the New York Yankees (53-42) at Yankee Stadium on Saturday as the Cubs evened up their series with a 5-2 win. One night after Carlos Rodon carved up the Cubs for eight shutout innings, it was Boyd returning the favor as he matched the performance of Rodon by going eight shutout innings of his own.

He allowed four hits, struck out six, and improved to 10-3 on the season with a 2.34 ERA, which ranks in the top five in all of baseball. Fried, an all-star himself, wasn't at his best as he allowed four runs in just three innings of work. His ERA is now 2.43 for the season. Most of the Cubs' scoring came in two innings, with the first run coming in the first as Nico Hoerner led the game off with a triple.

Hoerner would come in to score on the Kyle Tucker grounder as the Cubs opened up a 1-0 lead and never looked back. With Hoerner leading off the last two games, pushing Ian Happ to seventh, it will be interesting to see if that trend continues, as Happ has been stuck in a prolonged slump since coming off the IL. The Cubs had a chance to add on in the second with Happ picking up a single ahead of a Jon Berti walk, but Fried managed to get out of the inning without further damage.

The same can't be said about the third inning, as Tucker started things off with a single before advancing to third on the Seiya Suzuki double to put two runners in scoring position and no outs. Carson Kelly kept the line moving with an RBI single to push the lead to 2-0, while a Dansby Swanson RBI forceout opened up a 3-0 lead. The Cubs weren't finished as Happ connected for his second hit in as many at-bats to stretch the lead to 4-0 and capped off what was a three-run inning for the Cubs.

It took the Yankees 12 batters to grab their first hit, which came from Aaron Judge, whose two-out double in the fourth gave the Yankees their first baserunner, only to be left stranded. Judge had a massive game as he was responsible for two of the four hits off Boyd, both coming as doubles, including a one-out double in the seventh. Once again, it was Boyd standing tall as he finished off that inning without damage to keep the Cubs' shutout intact.

Still leading by four in the eighth, the suddenly hot Kelly continued that streak by connecting for his 12th homer of the season to push the Cubs' lead to 5-0. Then came the ninth, where the Cubs offense once again kept the pressure on as JT Brubaker surrendered a one-out single to Berti before walking Hoerner to set the Cubs offense up again.

On the verge of delivering the knockout blow, Brubaker stood tall as he finished off the inning without allowing a run, as the Cubs were three outs away from completing the shutout. Given how Boyd was pitching, you had to wonder if the Cubs would let him try for the complete game, but on this day, Craig Counsell had other plans as he brought in Brad Keller to pitch the ninth.

Since his worst outing of the season last weekend, the Cubs have been trying to get Keller's confidence back, and so far, it has been a struggle. Those struggles continued in the ninth with Cody Bellinger picking up a one-out walk before Judge closed out another big day with a two-run shot that pulled the Yankees within 5-2. For Judge, that homer was a piece of history as he became the youngest player to reach the 350-homer mark.

Despite leading by three runs and only two outs left to work with, you never felt that this lead was safe, which is why Daniel Palencia was called on to take over. Palencia's outing didn't start well as he hit Giancarlo Stanton, but that was it as Palencia retired the final two hitters he faced to pick up the win.

Kelly and Happ paced the Cubs offense with two hits and combined for three RBIs as Happ had the game he desperately needed. The Cubs will look to close out the first half in style as they send Shota Imanaga to the mound on Sunday against Will Warren.