Aaron Judge hit his first home run of the postseason, drove in three runs, and was at the center of Cleveland calamity, too, as the New York Yankees took a commanding 2-0 ALCS lead on Tuesday night with a 6-3 victory over the Guardians at Yankee Stadium.
The win came despite a shaky night from Gerrit Cole — the ace lasting just 4.1 innings in which he allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
He loaded the bases twice in consecutive innings, getting out of the fourth by striking out Brayan Rocchio, but getting the hook with one out in the fifth after loading them up and yielding a sacrifice fly to Josh Naylor to cut the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. Clay Holmes allowed another run to score on a Will Brennan force out.
Cole’s night was not nearly as nightmarish as Rocchio’s though. Not only did he leave them loaded in the fourth, but the Cleveland shortstop dropped a pop fly by Judge in the bottom of the first which allowed Gleyber Torres to score from third and give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.
Alex Verdugo doubled in the bottom of the second to score Anthony Volpe to double the Yankees’ lead. Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, who allowed just two runs in 8.2 innings of work this postseason coming into Game 2, loaded the bases with an intentional walk of Juan Soto before getting the hook after just 1.1 innings.
Judge picked up his first official RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game.
Following Cole’s turbulence int he middle innings, to make it a one-run game, Anthony Rizzo put the Yankees back up two in the bottom of the sixth with a double — his first big contribution since recovering from two fractured fingers that held him out of the ALDS.
Judge put things out of reach in the seventh with a two-run home run off Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis. On a 1-1 count, the Yankees’ struggling slugger �— who entered Tuesday night 2-for-15 in the postseason — jumped on a high 95 mph fastball at the top of the zone and bashed it 414 feet to center field.
Luke Weaver closed things out for the Yankees in the ninth, but not before Jose Ramirez homered with one out — a mere consolation prize for the Guardians, who hope that a change of scenery with the series shifting back to Cleveland can change their luck.
