NEW YORK (Interstat) — Carlos Rodón pitched six strong innings, striking out seven, and Ryan McMahon delivered a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning as the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium II.

The victory gave the Yankees a split of the three-game series after Cleveland won the first two contests, 5-4 on Wednesday and 9-4 on Tuesday. New York improved to 37-25, while the Guardians fell to 36-28.

Rodón allowed two hits and one earned run with two walks and seven strikeouts. He left with the game tied at 1, and the Yankees broke the deadlock in the bottom of the seventh against Cleveland reliever Codi Heuer. Heuer, making his season debut, took the loss and fell to 0-1.

The game was a pitcher’s duel through the first three innings. Rodón retired the first nine Guardians in order, striking out David Fry and José Ramírez in the first and fanning Angel Martínez in the second. Cleveland’s starter, Slade Cecconi, matched him early, allowing only a first-inning single to Trent Grisham before settling in.

Cleveland struck first in the fourth. With one out, José Ramírez singled to right field. Rhys Hoskins walked, and after Travis Bazzana struck out, Angel Martínez flied out to center, allowing Ramírez to advance to third. Stuart Fairchild then singled to left field, scoring Ramírez and giving the Guardians a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning. Paul Goldschmidt singled to right, and Cody Bellinger singled to center, moving Goldschmidt to second. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Left fielder Steven Kwan caught the ball and threw to third baseman José Ramírez, who tagged out Goldschmidt attempting to advance from second. The double play ended the inning, but the run scored, tying the game at 1.

Both teams struggled to generate offense after that. Rodón retired the side in order in the fifth and worked around a two-out walk to Hoskins in the sixth. Cecconi matched him, allowing only a walk to Ben Rice in the sixth before being replaced by Heuer.

The decisive moment came in the seventh. With one out, Chisholm walked. José Caballero lined out to right field, bringing McMahon to the plate. McMahon grounded a single to right field, and Chisholm raced home, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Heuer then struck out J.C. Escarra to end the inning.

New York turned to its bullpen to preserve the lead. Brent Headrick pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out one, and earned the win, improving to 4-1. David Bednar worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning, getting three groundouts to secure his 13th save.

The Guardians mounted no serious threat after the fourth. Cleveland managed only two hits in the game: Ramírez’s single in the fourth and Fairchild’s RBI single in the same inning. The Yankees had five hits, led by Grisham who went 2 for 4 with a double. Goldschmidt and Bellinger each had one hit, and McMahon drove in the winning run.

Defensive plays kept the game close. In the fourth, Kwan’s throw to third base on Chisholm’s sacrifice fly prevented further damage. In the sixth, Ramírez started a double play, fielding a grounder from Goldschmidt, stepping on third and throwing to second to erase Rice.

The game took 2 hours, 20 minutes and was played before 39,504 fans.

Cleveland begins a three-game series at Texas on Friday. The Yankees host Boston for a three-game set beginning Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of New York Yankees 6, Cleveland Guardians 5. Interstat’s ELO system had projected New York with a 59.80 percent probability to win. The Yankees were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 3 went over the over/under line of 8.5.