CHICAGO, IL. — Somewhere on the journey from the South Side to the North Side of Chicago, something clicked for the Yankees.
Maybe it was simply the sting of dropping back-to-back games in extra innings to split a series they once seemed positioned to win. Maybe it was the frustration of wasting two outstanding starts. Or maybe, after Aaron Boone sounded about as displeased as the painfully optimistic Yankees manager ever allows himself to sound publicly, there was a stern talking-to somewhere along the way.
Whatever happened, the Yankees who showed up at Wrigley Field on Friday looked much more like the team they need to be.
And Will Warren made sure the reset stuck.
Warren delivered one of the best starts of his young career, tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing just four hits, walking none and striking out seven in the Yankees’ 2-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
According to Katie Sharp, it marked the first start of Warren’s career in which he completed at least six innings without allowing an earned run.
And this wasn’t exactly a get-right game against a struggling opponent.
The Cubs entered Friday 8-5 since the All-Star break and had posted a .783 team OPS during that stretch, the fourth-highest mark in baseball.
Warren didn’t just give the Yankees length. He shut down one of the league’s hottest offenses.
The win also gave New York its 11th shutout of the season, the most in the American League and second-most in baseball behind only the Phillies with 12.
Warren sets the tone at Wrigley
The Cubs managed a Pedro Ramírez single in the first inning, but Warren immediately erased it when Michael Busch grounded into a double play.
From there, he settled in.
Warren struck out Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner in a perfect second before punching out Michael Conforto, Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong around a Miguel Amaya double in the third.
By the end of the sixth, Chicago had still done virtually nothing against him.
Warren retired the Cubs in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, mixing strikeouts with weak contact and allowing his defense to work behind him.
His only real trouble arrived with two outs in the seventh when Alex Bregman and Happ recorded consecutive singles. That brought Boone out of the dugout with Warren at 88 pitches.
This time, the bullpen finished what the starter began.
Paul Blackburn entered and got Hoerner to ground into a force play, though it required a Yankees challenge to overturn the original safe call at second base.
Crisis avoided.
Blackburn, who has only relinquished a run in two of his last 18 appearances (since June 21), has posted a 1-0 record with an ERA of 0.99, 24 strikeouts and 1 save.
A much-needed response after two brutal losses
That sequence alone probably felt refreshing after what happened at Guaranteed Rate Field Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The Yankees entered Friday having lost Games 3 and 4 against the White Sox in extra innings, blowing leads in both.
It marked the first time in franchise history that New York lost consecutive games in which it held a lead in extras.
The Yankees have now suffered five such losses this season, the most in Major League Baseball. No other team has more than three.
What made those losses even more difficult to swallow was how well the Yankees’ starters pitched.
Cam Schlittler gave New York everything it needed in Game 3, working 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts while allowing just one earned run.
Then Ryan Weathers somehow gave them even more in the series finale, delivering seven scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Neither start resulted in a win.
The Yankees took a lead into extra innings in both games and watched each one disappear.
After the second loss, even Boone appeared to have exhausted some of his usual optimism.
For a team with postseason expectations, there are only so many times a manager can point to the positives after watching winnable games slip away.
Maybe that message was delivered more forcefully behind closed doors.
Because one day later, the Yankees did nearly everything right.
Rosario, Jones provide just enough power
Against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga, New York didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard.
It didn’t have to.
Amed Rosario finally broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the fourth, launching his 10th home run of the season to center field and giving Warren a 1-0 lead.
An inning later, Spencer Jones doubled it.
Jones drove an Imanaga offering into the right-center-field seats for his fourth big league home run, making it 2-0.
More importantly for the rookie, it was the first home run of his Major League career against a left-handed pitcher.
For a player whose ability to handle lefties will continue to be watched closely as he attempts to establish himself as an everyday big leaguer, that was no small development.
And on this afternoon, those two swings were enough.
The Yankees finished with only four hits, but after spending the previous two games finding increasingly painful ways to give away leads, they finally made one stick.
Yankees finish the job
Blackburn returned for the eighth and was dominant, striking out Conforto, Swanson and Amaya in succession.
That handed a two-run lead to David Bednar in the ninth.
Pete Crow-Armstrong flew out to Jones in left before Ramírez singled to keep Chicago alive. Busch followed with another flyout to Jones, leaving Bregman as the Cubs’ final chance.
Bednar handled that one himself.
Bregman sent a ground ball back toward the mound, Bednar fielded it and tossed to Paul Goldschmidt at first to finish the shutout.
And for the first time in three days, the Yankees get to fly the W.
