Cubs 5, Yankees 2: All-Star Matthew Boyd dominates

The Cubs lefthander threw his best game of the year.

Matthew Boyd, a first-time All-Star this year, won’t be pitching in the Midsummer Classic Tuesday.

Fortunately for the Cubs, Boyd put together a classic outing in his Saturday start against the Yankees. He became the first Cubs starter to go eight full innings in 2025, allowing just four hits, and the Cubs evened up the series in New York with a 5-2 win.

The Cubs didn’t waste any time getting on the board in this one after being shut out Friday. Nico Hoerner hit Max Fried’s third pitch of the game for a triple [VIDEO].

Seven pitches later, the Cubs had a 1-0 lead on Kyle Tucker’s groundout [VIDEO].

Boyd was absolutely dealing. He retired the first 11 Yankees in order, two by strikeout. In the first, Boyd got some help from Pete Crow-Armstrong, who made this nice grab on a long fly by Aaron Judge [VIDEO].

Meanwhile, the Cubs extended their lead to 4-0 in the third.

Tucker led off the inning with a single and took third on a double by Seiya Suzuki. Carson Kelly’s single scored Tucker [VIDEO].

One out later, this happened [VIDEO].

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s wild throw — and that was a REALLY wild throw! — allowed Suzuki to score and put Dansby Swanson on second base. Ian Happ’s single then scored Swanson to make it 4-0 [VIDEO].

Fried was removed after the third inning, and here’s why:

That’s just the eighth start of 170 in Fried’s career when he threw three innings or fewer. It’s also the first time in eight career starts against the Cubs where they scored more than two runs off Fried. More on all that run scoring from BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs’ three-run third inning came in the 147th inning that they have batted at Yankee Stadium, in the regular season and World Series.

They had scored three in only two previous innings: the sixth of a 9-6 loss in their first regular-season game there, in 2005, and the seventh of a 7-4 win in the finale of their last visit, on July 9, 2023.

They never have scored more than three runs in any inning at Yankee Stadium.

…..

The four-run lead by the Cubs in the third inning was their biggest ever at Yankee Stadium.

Their only two wins, in 2023, were by 3-0 and 7-4. In the second win, they broke a tie at 4 in the eighth and added a run in the ninth.

They led in three of their 10 losses: 6-4 in the sixth of a 9-6 loss, 2-1 in the fourth of 6-3 loss; and 1-0 in the first of an 18-4 shellacking.

The Cubs also led by two and one runs in games of the 1932 World Series and lost, 12-6 and 5-2. They led by one run in a game in the 1938 Series and also lost, 5-2.

After that, it was all Boyd. He completed eight shutout innings with just 85 pitches (62 strikes). He didn’t walk anyone and struck out six. Here are those six K’s [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Boyd’s outing [VIDEO].

Boyd’s ERA drops to 2.34, which ranks third in the National League behind Zack Wheeler (2.17) and Paul Skenes (2.01).

In the top of the eighth, Kelly extended the Cubs’ lead to 5-0 with his 12th home run [VIDEO].

Now. I know it’s a hot, sticky day at Yankee Stadium, and of course none of us knows the content of the conversation Boyd had with Craig Counsell and Tommy Hottovy. Maybe Boyd said he was done, and that’s why Brad Keller came in to throw the ninth. Personally, I’d have liked to see Boyd given the chance to finish. Here are some postgame comments from Counsell (he doesn’t specifically address that):

Keller had a rough inning. He gave up a one-out double to Cody Bellinger and then Aaron Judge smashed his 35th home run (and 350th of his career) to make it 5-2. Keller then hit Giancarlo Stanton with a pitch, so Counsell summoned Daniel Palencia, who made short work of things with a strikeout and ground out on nine pitches. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

A few final Boyd notes from John:

The last Cub before Boyd to pitch at least eight innings and give up no runs was Justin Steele, at home vs. the Giants on Sept. 4, 2023: eight IP, two hits, two walks, 12 strikeouts.

The last who did it on the road was Javier Assad, two days earlier, at Cincinnati: eight IP, seven hits, one walk, seven strikeouts.

And the last on the road before that was Jameson Taillon — at Yankee Stadium, on July 7, 2023: eight IP, one hit, two walks, four strikeouts.

Boyd is the first to pitch eight or more innings, allow no runs and walk no batters since Kyle Hendricks, at home vs. the Brewers, on July 24, 2020, Opening Day of the pandemic-delayed season. He pitched a three-hit complete game with nine strikeouts.

Just for the record, the last Cubs pitcher who threw a complete-game shutout was Marcus Stroman, who one-hit the Rays at Wrigley Field May 29, 2023. And the last Cubs pitcher to throw a Maddux (CG shutout, fewer than 100 pitches, which Boyd had a chance to do) was Kyle Hendricks, who threw an 81-pitch CG shutout against the Cardinals May 3, 2019.

The Cubs’ lead over the Brewers now stands at 1½ games, pending the result of the Brewers/Nationals game Saturday, which had just started at the time this recap posted.

I feel pretty good about the Cubs’ chances to win this series. Shōta Imanaga will take the mound for the Cubs in the final game before the All-Star break Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Right-hander Will Warren will go for the Yankees. Game time is 12:35 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and Yankees market territories).