Matt Carpenter leads Yankees' rout of Cubs for series sweep

Babe Ruth-era Yankees owner Col. Jacob Ruppert is said to have commented that his perfect day at the ballpark was “when the Yankees score eight runs in the first inning and slowly pull away.” 

Ruppert, who is immortalized at Yankee Stadium with a plaque in Monument Park and outside it with a parking garage named after him, would have enjoyed Sunday’s 18-4 victory over the Cubs. It featured two home runs and seven RBIs from very late lineup addition Matt Carpenter, whose mustache would have fit right in in Col. Ruppert’s time. 

After falling behind 1-0, the Yankees scored five runs in the first, three in the second and two in the third. A 10-1 lead after three innings was enough to enable the Yankees to sweep the series and improve to 44-16 with their fourth straight win, 11th in 12 games and 15th in 18 games. 

The Yankees, who have gone 37-10 since their 7-6 start, are on pace to win 119 games. The 162-game MLB record is 116 wins by the 2001 Seattle Mariners. 

Kyle Higashioka — who wasn’t in Aaron Boone’s original lineup — also homered twice. His second one came against Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel, who pitched the eighth.  

Carpenter — who wasn’t in either of Boone’s first two posted lineups — had a bases-loaded walk in the first, a three-run homer in the second, a two-run blast in the sixth and an RBI double in the seventh.

“I don’t really have words for it,” Carpenter said. “I obviously feel good at the plate. Got my swing where I want it and I’m just trying to go out and execute. I’ve been able to put some good swings on some balls lately.”

In his first start since June 3 and his first game in the field as a Yankee, Carpenter added a diving stop at third and throw to first for the first out of the eighth. “I put him in the garage for a week and pulled him out for a spin,” Boone said. “That’s impressive. What he’s doing. What he’s done since he’s gotten here.”

Boone needed to make out three lineups on Sunday morning. He first scratched Jose Trevino (back soreness) and added Higashioka. Then he scratched Gleyber Torres (stomach illness) and inserted Carpenter. 

What Boone came up with worked out nicely. Cubs starter Keegan Thompson and Daniel Norris had to throw a combined 95 pitches before Alec Mills picked up the ninth out recorded by the Cubs and escaped the third inning. 

Ian Happ, who fell a double short of the cycle, gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first with a two-out home run off Jameson Taillon. 

The Yankees used a single and three consecutive one-out walks to tie the score in the bottom half, with Thompson walking Carpenter to force in the first run. 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (three RBIs) followed with a ground-rule double to right to drive in two runs and make it 3-1. 

Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom then dropped a pop-up in front of the pitcher’s mound for an error to load the bases. One out later, No. 9 hitter Joey Gallo rocketed a double to right for two unearned runs and a 5-1 Yankees lead. 

“It’s not like we were pounding the ball all over the place early there necessarily,” Boone said. “It was just a lot of really, really good at-bats, making their guy work hard.”

Thompson (6-2, 3.67 ERA) lasted two-thirds of an inning and was charged with all five runs (three earned). 

Norris walked Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu with one out in the second before Carpenter unloaded  a three-run shot to right to make it 8-1. 

Higashioka, who hit seven home runs during the shortened spring training, led off the third with his first home run of the season (in his 101st plate appearance) and was given the silent treatment when he reached the dugout.  Four batters later,  Stanton (three RBIs) hit a 116.8-mph rocket to right-center for an RBI double and a 10-1 lead. 

Taillon (7-1, 2.93 ERA) went five innings (95 pitches), allowing three runs and seven hits with one walk and five strikeouts. 

Carpenter made it 12-3 with a two-run homer in the sixth on which rightfielder Jason Heyward barely moved. That gave him  seven hits in his first 23 at-bats as a Yankee: six home runs and one bunt single.  Trevor Story (2016, Colorado) is the only other player since 1900 to have six homers among his first seven hits with a team.  

Carpenter is the first Yankee to hit six home runs in his first 10 games. He has 13 RBIs.

In a five-run seventh, Anthony Rizzo had an RBI single, Stanton a two-run single, Carpenter an RBI double and Kiner-Falefa an RBI single to expand the lead to 17-4. The Yankees sent 10 men to the plate in both the first and seventh innings. 

Higashioka led off the eighth with his second homer, this one on a 35.1-mph blooper pitch up in his eyes from Schwindel, who also gave up Aaron Judge's third hit of the day but managed to get three outs. 

The Yankees, who are off on Monday, had 17 hits one day after hitting six solo home runs Saturday night. They lead MLB with 98 home runs, their most in franchise history through 60 games, after hitting 10 in the final two games of the series while outscoring the Cubs 26-4. 

“This offense is scary when they’re rolling like that,” Taillon said. “These are the Bronx Bombers.”

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.