CHICAGO — Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes combined on a four-hitter, and the New York Yankees clinched their 32nd straight winning season by blanking the Chicago Cubs 2-0 on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schmidt pitched 4 2\/3 innings of four-hit ball in his first big league game since May 26. Cortes (9-10) closed it out in his first relief appearance since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coupled with Baltimore’s 7-1 loss<\/a> to Tampa Bay, New York moved back into first in the AL East. The Yankees (82-60) lead the Orioles by a half-game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cortes admitted he was upset when he learned he was going to pitch in relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m never going to back down from a challenge,\u201d Cortes said. \u201cI\u2019m never going to leave my teammates out to dry. You\u2019re always going to get my best effort no matter if I\u2019m happy or not. That\u2019s what I did today. I came out there and proved I can be put in any situation. From here on out, if that\u2019s my role, I\u2019ll accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schmidt had been sidelined by a right lat strain. He threw 75 pitches, 44 for strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I felt like I still had a lot of strength and I wasn\u2019t fatiguing at all,\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York posted its second straight shutout to secure its first series win since it took two of three against Colorado from Aug. 23-25. The 32 straight seasons with a winning record is the second-longest such period in major league history, trailing a run of 39 consecutive seasons for the Yankees from 1926-64.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chicago (72-70) has lost four of five on a crucial homestand as it tries to rally in the race for the third NL wild card. It beat Pittsburgh 12-0 on Wednesday, but it has managed a total of three other runs in its last five games, getting shut out three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe feel like we have a good enough ballclub to be in the playoffs and in the picture, but we\u2019re going to have to play a little bit better and keep pushing here,\u201d left fielder Ian Happ said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cubs right-hander Javier Assad (7-5) allowed one earned run and three hits in 5 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York scored its first run when Austin Wells drove in Gleyber Torres with a groundout in the first. The Yankees made it 2-0 in the sixth when Aaron Judge swiped third as part of a double steal and scampered home on catcher Christian Bethancourt\u2019s throwing error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge, who leads the majors with 51 homers, went 0 for 3 with a walk. He hasn\u2019t homered in 11 games in his longest streak of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cubs had their best scoring opportunity in the fifth. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled with one out, but was caught stealing. Patrick Wisdom then tripled to right, but he was stranded when Cortes got Bethancourt to foul out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe handled it really well, came into a high-leverage situation with a runner on third and got the job done,\u201d Wells said of Cortes. \u201cFrom there, cruised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n