Ryan McMahon dazzles to help Yankees avoid sweep vs. Phillies

The Yankees still have to address their biggest need — pitching — in the coming days ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

But in the meantime, the first player they acquired to fill another big hole is paying immediate dividends.

Ryan McMahon delivered a strong game on both sides of the ball, with his two-run double keying a rally in addition to playing terrific defense at third base, with the Yankees needing all of it to squeak by the Phillies 4-3 on Sunday afternoon in The Bronx.

The Yankees (57-48) made things hard on themselves by having to beat Zack Wheeler to avoid the sweep, but they were able to get to the Phillies ace with a four-run second inning before holding on late as the bullpen had a spotless day for a change.

After Carlos Rodón lasted 5 ¹/₃ innings and left with a 4-3 lead, the Yankees got two outs from the struggling Jonathan Loáisiga, three from Luke Weaver and three from Tim Hill (against the top of the order) before Devin Williams shut the door on the Phillies (60-45) in the ninth.

With the win, the Yankees pulled back within 5 ¹/₂ games of the Blue Jays in the AL East.

McMahon, acquired from the Rockies on Friday after third base had been a black hole for most of the season, went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored in his second game. He also made a leaping grab on Bryce Harper’s flare in the fourth inning and then made a sharp sliding stop on Trea Turner’s grounder in the fifth and fired to first to nail the speedy shortstop.

That proved critical as Rodón got the next batter, Kyle Schwarber, to fly out to Cody Bellinger at the right field wall to strand a pair.

Rodón got burned by two pitches in the second inning that both left the yard and put the Phillies up 2-0. First was a 2-2 changeup over the middle to Nick Castellanos that ended up in the left field seats. One out later, Rodón threw a slider on the outside edge that Otto Kemp went the other way with for another solo shot.

But the Yankees were quick to answer, taking advantage of Wheeler’s lack of command. Giancarlo Stanton led off the bottom of the second with a bullet single before Wheeler hit Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez in back-to-back plate appearances to load the bases.

McMahon came up next and grounded a double down the right field line to tie the game, and it’s possible it could have been a three-run hit if Domínguez had not for some reason stopped at second before running to third.

But Austin Wells made sure it did not come back to hurt as he lifted a sacrifice fly — his ninth of the year, tying him for the MLB lead — to put the Yankees ahead 3-2.

Trent Grisham followed with a single through the right side that scored McMahon for what proved to be the winning run.

Kemp later added his second home run of the day — after entering Sunday with two home runs in 34 games in his big league career — by drilling Rodón’s 95 mph fastball down the middle to pull the Phillies within 4-3.