Aaron Judge delivered in a big-time way for the New York Yankees as his two-run home run helped the Bronx Bombers beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 on Tuesday night. The victory, which took place at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y., puts the Yankees up 2-0 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
After the first two games in New York, the series now shifts to Cleveland for two or three games at Progressive Field. Because the Yankees have a 2-0 edge, they could potentially win Games 3 and 4 to get back to the World Series. Cleveland has some work to do, though, and their clutch hitting and fielding leave something to be desired.
New York Yankees Nabbed Early Lead
The Cleveland Guardians probably had hoped to get off to a fast start. Instead, it was the New York Yankees that got some help from the Guardians’ shoddy defense. In the bottom of the first inning, Judge hit a high pop-up that stayed on the infield. Cleveland rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio kept drifting toward second base. As he was moving, Rocchio botched catching the ball and it rolled toward right field. Gleyber Torres, who was on base, scored for a 1-0 Yankees lead.
The Guardians had more defensive hijinx happen in the sixth inning. Cleveland had gotten within 3-2 at this point. But right fielder Will Brennan could not find the handle on an Anthony Rizzo double, The Associated Press reported. Rizzo’s hit caromed off the wall down the right-field line. Due to Brennan’s misplay, Anthony Volpe scored from first base for a 4-2 New York Yankees lead.
Judge, who had a second-inning sacrifice fly, came up in the seventh inning. He sized up a letter-high fastball from Cleveland Guardians pitcher Hunter Gaddis and drove it out 414 feet to Monument Park beyond the center-field wall. Any New York Yankees fans listening to the radio call probably heard longtime broadcaster Jon Sterling utter his now-famous “All Rise!” phrase.
It was Judge’s first postseason home run and 14th in his career. Seeing Judge connect on his homer probably was a sight for sore Yankees fans’ eyes.
AARON JUDGE DOUBLES THE @YANKEES LEAD! #ALCS pic.twitter.com/XBzdccyp3A
— MLB (@MLB) October 16, 2024
“It was just good to add two more runs there against a tough team,” Judge said in a postgame interview on TBS, MLB.com reported. “They’ve got a great bullpen. They were fighting and clawing all game, so to give ourselves a couple more runs there — Gleyber [Torres] did his thing, getting on base again like he’s been doing all series, so it was good to add two.”
New York’s Alex Verdugo sent an opposite-field double down the left-field line that scored a run. It happened to glance off of left-field umpire Vic Carapazza and headed down the baseline. Torres had three hits in Tuesday night’s victory. Rizzo picked up two hits and his batting stroke has been a welcome sight for New York’s offense. He is now 3-for-7 in two games after he came back from dealing with a pair of fractured fingers. The injury kept Rizzo out of the AL Division Series.
Cleveland Guardians Fall Short At Plate
For Cleveland, it was a nightmare at the plate. The Guardians had chances to get more runners across home plate at Yankee Stadium but just could not do so. They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 total runners on the basepaths. Not a solid recipe for a victory, especially in postseason play.
In the fifth inning, Josh Naylor had a sacrifice fly and Brennan grounded into a run-scoring forceout. Also, Steven Kwan extended his Cleveland-record postseason hit streak to 12 games.
Gerrit Cole started for the New York Yankees and Tanner Bibee got the nod for the Cleveland Guardians. Neither one of them was involved in the final decision. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt decided to pull after he got just four outs. Bibee was caught on camera expressing his displeasure at Vogt’s quick hook. Cole did a little better but could not dominate Guardians’ hitters. He gave up four walks in 4 1/3 innings as Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to his bullpen for help.
Tim Hill, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes, who won the game, put together 3 2/3 scoreless innings of work. In the ninth inning, New York reliever Luke Weaver gave up a solo home run to Cleveland slugger José Ramírez. That happened to have been only the second earned run that the Yankees’ bullpen has allowed in 23 1/3 innings of work this postseason.
In a roster move, Cleveland removed right-handed pitcher Alex Cobb from its postseason roster. He suffered a lower back strain in Game 1. Righty Ben Lively replaced Cobb on the roster. Cobb, even if he felt better, will not be able to play anymore this season due to postseason roster rules.
Cleveland and New York will take Wednesday off for a travel day. Game 3 will take place on Thursday.
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