For the 41st time in franchise history, the New York Yankees are going to the World Series.
A 10th-inning dramatic three-run home run off the bat of Juan Soto sealed the game for
the Yankees, who are American League Champions for the first time since 2009, with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night at Progressive Field. They will await either the Mets or Dodgers in the World Series.
Trailing 2-0 in the sixth inning, the Yankees tied it up through the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton, who launched a two-out home run to left to tie the game for what was his fourth round-tripper of the ALCS.
That was the last of the scoring until the 10th inning when the Yankees broke through against Cleveland reliever Hunter Gaddis. Austin Wells walked, Alex Verdugo reached on a Brayan Rocchio error, and, with two outs, Soto sent the most important home run in recent Yankees history to deep right-center field. Putting the Yankees ahead 5-2. Luke Weaver nailed down the save and sent the Yankees to the World Series.
Getting his second start of the series for Cleveland was Tanner Bibee. While the Yankees
sent Carlos Rodon to the mound for the Bombers. Bibee, who wasn’t even able to get out of the second inning against the Yankees in game two, fared much better early in Game 2. After
allowing Gleyber Torres to reach on a single to open the game, Soto sent what seemed to be a certain RBI double into right field. However, a perfect throw from Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel, and an even better relay by second baseman Andres Gimenez helped nail Torres at the plate and keep the game scoreless.
After the double, Bibee hit Aaron Judge, struck out Stanton, and hit Jazz Chisholm. With the bases loaded and two out, Bibee got Anthony Rizzo to fly out to left, stranding the bases loaded. Following that rough first inning, Bibee dialed back in and retired the next 10 batters he faced.
The Guardians were able to tack on a couple of runs during Bibee’s run of dominance; the first came on a Bo Naylor double that scored his brother, Josh Naylor, in the bottom of the second. The second run came in the bottom of the fifth when Steven Kwan scored Andres Giminez with an RBI single.
The bottom of the fifth also marked the final inning of Rodon’s night. Rodon pitched 4.2 innings, struck out six, walked one and allowed two runs on five hits.
It wasn’t until the top of the sixth when the Yankees finally found the scoresheet. Torres and Soto led off the inning with back-to-back singles. But after Judge grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, it seemed as if the inning would be another scoreless one.
But Stanton did what he does in the postseason better than anyone else. With a 3-2 count, Stanton smashed a 446-foot home run into the left-field bleachers, tying the game at two and chasing Bibee from the game. Bibee finished the game tossing 5.2 innings, striking out
five and allowing two runs on six hits.
