Anthony Volpe, Willie Calhoun homer as Yankees rally to beat Guardians, end 4-game skid

The Yankees used power hitting from a couple of unlikely sources to end their four-game losing streak on Tuesday night by overcoming a two-run deficit to post a 4-2 victory over Cleveland before 32,521 at the Stadium.

Rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe got them on the board with a one-out solo home run to spark a two-run rally in the sixth inning to tie the score. And Willie Calhoun, an under-the-radar January signing to provide depth, hit an 0-and-2 curveball from Guardians reliever James Karinchak into the rightfield stands with one out in the seventh for his first homer as a Yankee and the go-ahead run.

Volpe singled in the eighth, stole a pair of bases and scored on a DJ LeMahieu single for an insurance run and Michael King got the final five outs for his second save.

Volpe is now 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts. When manager Aaron Boone was asked afterward about what had impressed him most about the rookie he replied “the level of baserunner he is — he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

The four runs are the most the Yankees have scored since Thursday’s 4-2 win against the Rangers in Texas.

“We had some good winning at-bats there when we needed them and then the bullpen did their thing,” Boone said.

Starter Gerrit Cole went six innings and allowed two runs, exiting with the Yankees trailing 2-0. He allowed five hits and three walks while striking out eight and credited the Guardians for running his pitch count to 108 over six innings by eschewing their typical aggression in the batter’s box for a more disciplined approach.

“Their approach was really solid,” Cole said. “They were really laying off close pitches which was kind of uncharacteristic of them.”

Calhoun was inked to a minor-league contract in January after playing just 22 big league games with the Rangers and Giants last season. He was called up April 8 to replace the injured Josh Donaldson and was in the starting lineup for only the 12th time this season. He had six hits in his last 19 at-bats entering the game.

“It was especially fun in the stretch that we're going through right now, but it's be able to come out and get a win right there — especially after being down two — it was it was cool,” Calhoun said. “That was a special homer. Yankee Stadium, to be able to hit a home run here is pretty cool.”

Harrison Bader, out with a strained left oblique all season, made his 2023 debut and batted fifth. He went 1-for-4 with an infield hit and made a stellar diving catch on Josh Bell’s sinking liner to end the top of the fifth inning.

Cole appeared to be struggling in the second inning when he issued a four-pitch walk to Bell and then hit Andres Gimenez on the hand with a pitch. After a first-pitch ball to Mike Zunino, catcher Jose Trevino went to the mound. Things were different after that as Cole retired Zunino and the next two batters looking at called third strikes.

“I think we just kind of identified generally that they were they were really trying to be disciplined, which opened up the fastball for us,” Cole said. “Three executed fastballs with two strikes and got out it.”

Still, Cleveland got a pair of runs in the third on a run-scoring single by Josh Naylor and a run-scoring ground out by Gimenez.

Volpe’s third career home run, however, set the Yankees on track for the win.

“He's now tied me for career homers,” Cole said with a laugh. “He's a good player. So it was a good jolt for us and it was good for Willie to finish it off. He's been grinding up there [and] put a great swing on a really competitive curveball with two strikes.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.