Yankees aim for season-best winning streak against Cubs

Cody Bellinger spent the past two years rejuvenating his career with the Chicago Cubs. But the New York Yankees were nonetheless able to acquire him via trade rather easily this past offseason.

On Friday, Bellinger hit three homers against his old team, helping his new team win yet again.

Bellinger and the Yankees attempt to get a season-high sixth straight victory Saturday afternoon when they face the visiting Cubs.

The Yankees are on their third five-game winning streak this season after rolling to an 11-0 win in the series opener. Bellinger hit a trio of two-run homers against Chris Flexen, Caleb Thielbar and Jordan Wicks.

Bellinger, who played center field Friday, was acquired by the Yankees Dec. 17 for pitcher Cody Poteet after hitting .286 with 44 homers and 175 RBIs in 260 games in Chicago (following a difficult final two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers).

“Honestly, ultimately it was just fun to be out there,” Bellinger said. “I saw a bunch of guys I hadn’t seen in a while and I shared a bunch of good memories with them for these past two years.”

Bellinger heads into his final game before turning 30 on Sunday on a career-high 16-game hitting streak. Bellinger is batting .406 (28-for-69) with six homers and 16 RBIs during his hitting streak after also getting a 15-game streak in May.

Bellinger’s big night occurred a night after the Yankees were no-hit into the seventh inning and overcame a five-run deficit to earn a 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge in the 10th inning.

Judge lifted a sacrifice fly Friday and made four catches, including three in the fourth inning when he made a leaping catch on Pete Crow-Armstrong.

“He made nice plays,” Chicago right fielder Kyle Tucker said of Judge’s catches. “He was just doing his job out there and he did it pretty well tonight.”

The Cubs have dropped four of six following a 5-1 stretch. Chicago was blanked for the sixth time this season and fourth time since June 1.

The Cubs also matched their second-most runs allowed and Bellinger was the first player to get a three-homer game against them since Josh Rojas for the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 20, 2022.

“He’s having a nice year,” Chicago manager Craig Counsell said of Bellinger. “We knew that going into the series. We didn’t make great pitches to him. So that’s what you’re doing if you don’t make good pitches to good hitters, they hurt you.”

After Carlos Rodon allowed four hits in eight innings for New York’s longest start since Gerrit Cole went nine innings in a 4-2 win in 10 innings over the Athletics last Sept. 20, Max Fried (11-2, 2.27 ERA) will get the start Saturday.

Fried last pitched Sunday when he allowed three runs on six hits in five-plus innings of a 6-4 win over the host New York Mets.

Fried is 6-0 with a 1.18 ERA in six career starts against the Cubs, who have hit .135 against him.

Chicago’s Matthew Boyd (9-3, 2.52) will attempt to reach double-digit victories for the first time in his career. Boyd is 4-0 with a 1.54 ERA over his past six starts since June 4 and has allowed two runs or fewer in eight straight starts.

Boyd picked up his latest win on Sunday when he allowed three hits in five innings of an 11-0 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The left-hander, who was named to the All-Star team, is 1-3 with a 5.17 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media