NEW YORK (AP) — The ball shot off Aaron Judge’s bat like a missile aimed towards Monument Park. But at first base, Gleyber Torres waited as if looking to do a hit and run.
"A lack of respect on Gleyber's part," Judge joked afterward. "He has seen me hit like 58 of those this year."
Judge's first home run of this postseason, which drove in two runs, was the final blow for the Yankees as they secured a 6-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, giving them a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Immersed in a discreet October, Judge woke up with just one RBI in the playoffs. But he contributed a sacrifice fly in a second inning with two runs that put New York ahead 3-0, after Cleveland chose to intentionally walk Juan Soto to load the bases.
"I was looking for the double play," said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. "Getting two outs with one pitch."
Judge understood the decision: "I would have ordered the ticket too."
In the seventh inning, with the Yankees holding a 4-2 lead and Torres on base, the star hit a fastball that Hunter Gaddis threw at chest height, sending it 414 feet to center field for his 14th career postseason home run.
"I was disappointed with Gleyber for not knowing the power that Judge has," Anthony Rizzo said. "We teased him a lot about it. It was a tremendous swing."
Judge led the majors with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs this year, but he had gone 2 for 15 (.133) in the first five games against Kansas City and Cleveland.
"I was happy when it left. You never know what the ball will do on these cold and windy nights, but the ghosts took it to Monument Park, of course they did," Judge emphasized.
The two aces fell short last night. Cleveland's Tanner Bibbe could only get four outs in the shortest start of his career. Gerrit Cole struggled with his control, issuing four walks and allowing six hits before exiting the game after 4 1/3 innings for New York.
But the Yankees' relief team took care of the rest.
Clay Holmes, Tim Hill, and Tommy Kahnle combined to cover 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Dominican Jose Ramirez hit a home run in the ninth inning against Luke Weaver, only the second earned run allowed by the New York bullpen in 23 1/3 innings over six games this postseason.
After a day of rest, the series will resume on Thursday with the third matchup in Cleveland.
The Yankees went up 2-0 in the clash for the crown of their circuit for the first time since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels. That was the year they won their 27th - and most recent - World Series championship.
Under the format of the best of seven games in the postseason, teams that went up 2-0 ended up winning 84% of the series (76 out of 91 occasions).
Venezuelan Torres reached base to open the game for the fifth time in the playoffs and closed the night with three hits for New York.
"They have a great bullpen. They fought throughout the whole game, so helping with two runs was excellent," highlighted Judge. "Gleyber did his part, getting on base again as he has done throughout the series."
Rizzo contributed a two-run double among his two hits and is 7-for-3 in two games since returning after suffering a fracture in two fingers, which prevented him from playing in the divisional series.
Cleveland paid dearly for their defensive mistakes. Venezuelan rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan committed errors that resulted in runs being scored.
Rocchio dropped a pop-up from Judge into the infield, allowing Torres to score. After Cleveland closed the gap to 3-2, Brennan juggled the ball while trying to field Rizzo's double cleanly in the sixth along the line. Anthony Volpe scored from first.
The Guardians went 0 for 7 with men in scoring position and left 11 runners stranded on base.