NEW YORK — Ever since he was a kid watching his father Clay play for the Yankees in the early 2000s, Cody Bellinger visualized himself in Pinstripes someday. That thought never left him, even after his career whisked him far away from the Bronx.

This is the Cody Bellinger the Yankees envisioned when he became one of the centerpieces of their post-Juan Soto pivot.

Cody Bellinger homered and drove in three of the Yankees' four runs while Max Fried returned to form to help shut out the Guardians, 4-0, on Thursday night in The Bronx.