Terrific work by the bullpen has allowed the New York Yankees to win the first two games of their road series against the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians.

Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon (1-2, 2.88 ERA) will be counted on to give the team some length in the finale Wednesday afternoon, when he starts against Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick (6-2, 2.40).

New York used seven relievers in a 7-5, 10-inning win on Monday, then needed five more to cover the final five scoreless frames in a 3-2 victory on Tuesday. Starters Will Warren and Gerrit Cole were limited to 8 1/3 total innings due to high pitch counts.

Closer David Bednar worked the final 1 2/3 innings in the series opener, and Fernando Cruz earned a five-out save in the second contest. Cruz was the only New York reliever not to pitch in the first game.

“Just tremendous,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Everybody is really doing their job really well with Cruzer coming up big for five outs. We knew we wanted the ball in his hands going through the heart of their lineup, and he did, too.”

Paul Blackburn, Jake Bird, Camilo Doval and Tim Hill saw action on back-to-back nights as New York’s bullpen yielded just two runs over 10 2/3 innings. Doval picked up the win on Tuesday when Jazz Chisholm Jr. belted a tiebreaking homer off Tim Herrin in the eighth.

“He’s a good pitcher and he doesn’t really miss his spots, so for him to do it there, I had a sigh of relief,” Chisholm said of Herrin. “Cruz and Bird and Blackburn and Tim, those are dawgs out there. We expect them to be great, like they did.”

The Yankees own an AL-high 40 victories and are 10-4 since May 24, moving them into a tie for fourth place overall in the majors. They are percentage points behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in the AL East and the league.

Rodon has been masterful for most of his career against Cleveland, going 10-5 with a 2.54 ERA in 24 games (22 starts). He pitched six innings of one-run ball in a no-decision against the Guardians at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

The Guardians will be counting on Messick to reverse an ongoing trend that has seen them lose five of six games and fall to 17-16 at home. Colin Holderman, Shawn Armstrong and Herrin will not be available after pitching two straight nights.

Herrin, a left-hander, typically works between one-third of an inning and one inning, but he was extended to 1 1/3 and gave up Chisholm’s towering drive to right field. Cleveland used five relievers for five total innings on Monday and four for four on Tuesday, yielding a total of four runs (three earned) over the two contests.

“We can’t just empty the ‘pen, especially when we emptied it last night,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said following the latest defeat. “Timmy was really efficient that first inning, so he was going back out for two more hitters and just hung a 3-2 slider to Chisholm.”

Messick, an impressive rookie, will pitch against New York for the first time. He is 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA in 10 career home starts. Messick recorded winning records in March, April and May but lost his June debut to the host Texas Rangers on Friday, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The Guardians and Yankees, two of just five AL teams with winning records, will square off for the sixth time in a nine-day span. New York is 3-2 entering the finale of the season series.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Red Sox continue to trend in the wrong direction and will look to avoid a three-game sweep on Wednesday when they conclude a five-game road trip with a matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Rays beat the Red Sox 3-1 on Monday and 4-3 on Tuesday, leaving Boston (27-38) a season-high 11 games under .500.

“(The Rays) have a plan and they’re good at what they do and you just have to be able to adjust and go with what you can get,” said Red Sox left-hander Payton Tolle, who allowed four runs in six innings on Tuesday while taking the loss.

“I don’t know how many times I got two strikes, but once again another day where I just couldn’t seem to put them away.”

The Red Sox had just four hits and six baserunners in the Monday setback, and they were limited to six hits and no walks on Tuesday. Boston hasn’t had more than seven hits in any of its past five games and is averaging 2.4 runs per game over that stretch.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Red Sox catcher Mickey Gasper said. “We’re all trying to help the team win, and we’re knocking at the door every night.”

Boston’s lack of punch at the plate has been particularly evident late in games. The Red Sox scored twice in the eighth inning on Tuesday to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3, but they failed to score again even though the tying run was on second with no outs.

Boston has a 1-32 record when behind after seven innings, and the Red Sox have lost all 35 times when they trailed entering the ninth.

“We hit some balls hard, quite a few actually,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “I’ll say the same thing as (Monday): We had to create more opportunities for ourselves throughout the game.”

Boston will attempt to shake its slump when it faces Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen (5-2, 3.00 ERA) on Wednesday. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 10 career games, including six starts, against the Red Sox.

Rasmussen is coming off arguably his best outing of the season. He threw seven innings of one-hit ball in a 6-0 road win over the Miami Marlins on Friday, striking out nine without issuing a walk.

Boston is expected to recall Jake Bennett (1-1, 4.35) from Triple-A Worcester to start the Wednesday game. The 25-year-old left-hander made his major league debut on May 1, throwing five innings of one-run ball in a win over the Houston Astros.

His only other major league appearance was a start against Tampa Bay on May 7. Bennett allowed four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out one in 5 1/3 innings during an 8-4 loss.

Bennett has pitched superbly for Worcester this year, going 3-2 with a 1.60 ERA in nine starts.

He will try to slow a Tampa Bay offense that scored each of its four runs with two outs on Tuesday.

“It’s just like a mindset,” said Ben Williamson, who went 2-for-4 from the No. 7 spot in the Rays’ batting order. “We don’t quit. Even with two outs, we know that we have a chance to score, cause chaos on the bases and move the ball around.”

Tampa Bay’s four RBIs came from the players hitting in the bottom four spots in the order.

“It was awesome to watch,” Williamson said. “It was awesome to be a part of. Like we’ve said before, this is such a dynamic offense. We have the big three, but then guys can just move the ball, move runners over and get them in at the bottom half of the order.”

–Field Level Media

The Washington Nationals will seek to continue their recent mastery at Oracle Park in San Francisco when they go for a three-game sweep of the Giants on Wednesday afternoon.

Daylen Lile has provided big hits for the Nationals, who entered the series with two wins in three tries against the Arizona Diamondbacks to kick off a weeklong trip. Washington added 4-3 and 6-3 victories over the Giants on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Tuesday’s triumph assured the Nationals of their fifth consecutive series win in San Francisco. Including sweeps in 2017 and 2019, they’ve gone 17-9 at Oracle Park in the past decade.

The difference between this season and last year, when the Nationals’ two wins in San Francisco came in August, is that Washington’s victory Tuesday improved the club’s record to two games over .500 for the season. Last year, the Nationals left San Francisco 23 games under .500.

“We’re just a young group who’s very confident in their abilities,” Lile told reporters in between his go-ahead single in Monday’s win and his two-RBI contribution to the rematch. “It’s just a matter of time for us to show everybody what we’re capable of doing, and I feel like we’re doing that.”

Someone who has been winning at an even higher percentage than the team in general is Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin (7-2, 3.63 ERA), who will take a four-game unbeaten run into his start in the series finale.

The 30-year-old’s recent stretch has included two impressive road outings — six shutout innings in a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on May 24 and five innings of one-run ball in a 14-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

Having sandwiched three seasons in Japan between seven major league appearances and eight innings pitched in 2020 and 2022 combined, Griffin never has faced the Giants.

He’ll face a San Francisco team that has created many more opportunities for itself than the six total runs in the series would indicate. The Giants got 13 hits, but only two with runners in scoring position, in Monday’s loss, then collected nine hits and seven walks on Tuesday, only to strand 13 runners.

“That’s kinda been the theme the last two nights. We’ve had guys out there; we just haven’t pushed them across as often as we’d like,” San Francisco manager Tony Vitello said after the most recent loss. “It’s come in different scenarios, too, not just with two outs. We’d be in a different position if we could do it.”

Casey Schmitt, who entered the series as the Giants’ hottest hitter, and Willy Adames, who homered three times on the road last week, have gone a combined 0-for-8 against the Nationals with runners in scoring position.

If there’s good news for the Giants, it’s that left-hander Robbie Ray (4-6, 4.12 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the finale. The team’s offense often has been at its best when the veteran has been on the mound this season.

Ray has started three straight Giants wins, benefiting from a total of 45 runs of support. That said, the 34-year-old didn’t get any offensive backing in a 3-0 loss at Washington in April, an outcome that dropped his career record against the Nationals to 3-6 with a 5.13 ERA over 10 starts.

–Field Level Media