The Chicago Cubs made much better pitches against former Cub Cody Bellinger on Saturday and saved their bullpen, putting them in position to head into the All-Star break on a positive note.
Other than Aaron Judge collecting three hits, including his 350th career homer, the Yankees were unable to muster much at the plate and saw their five-game winning streak stopped.
Two playoff contenders conclude the unofficial first half on Sunday afternoon when the Yankees host the Cubs for the finale of a three-game series.
The Cubs will head into the first-half finale with at least a share of the NL Central lead for 100 straight days, and their 56 wins before the break are their most since reaching the 2018 All-Star break at 55-38. Chicago last reached the break with at least 57 wins in 2008, when it was 57-38.
“I think we have a great ball club,” Chicago starting pitcher Matthew Boyd said. “We have guys that have been there before and guys that know what it takes to get there. I still think we got our best baseball ahead of us as a ball club and we’re still getting ready to hit our stride, and that’s saying something, but I think what we’ve done is pretty special so far.”
Boyd helped the Cubs bounce back after allowing three homers to Cody Bellinger in Friday’s 11-0 loss. Boyd allowed four hits in eight scoreless innings Saturday while catcher Carson Kelly hit an RBI single in a three-run third and later homered.
“That’s an atypical outing against us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Usually if a guy is shutting us down, there’s a lot of pitches.”
The Yankees lost six straight for a second time before matching their longest winning streak of the season. New York scored 42 runs, hit 11 home runs and had double-digit hits in four of those five games, including 15 hits Friday.
Bellinger extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games with a single in the ninth. He had a 15-game hitting streak in May and is 29-for-73 (.397) during this streak.
Judge doubled twice off Boyd and homered in the ninth. Judge’s 35 homers are the most in team history before the All-Star break, and he has seven homers over his past 13 games.
“I just think he’s playing in a different league, really,” Boone said of Judge.
After Boyd provided the longest start by a Cub this season, Shota Imanaga (5-3, 2.80) will make his fourth start since returning from missing over a month with a strained left hamstring.
Imanaga is 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA since coming back and took the loss when he allowed two runs on five hits in six innings in an 8-1 loss at Minnesota on Tuesday.
Imanaga has allowed three runs or fewer in nine of 11 starts this season after doing so in 24 of 29 starts last season.
The left-hander is facing the Yankees for the first time this season and he’s 6-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 12 career starts against American League opponents.
Will Warren (6-4, 4.70), who is coming off his fourth career scoreless start, closes out the series for the Yankees. Warren has sandwiched two scoreless starts around a July 2 showing in Toronto in which he allowed eight runs in four innings in a no-decision.
Warren last pitched in Tuesday’s 10-3 win over the Seattle Mariners when he allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings while getting a career-high 12 groundball outs.
Warren is facing the Cubs for the first time and is 1-3 with a 9.09 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against National League teams.