The New York Yankees struck first in the ALCS, as they defeated the Cleveland Guardians at their home Yankee Stadium, 5-2, in Game 1 on Monday night.
Juan Soto, who had good numbers coming into this game off Guardians starter Alex Cobb, was already 1-for-1 with a single when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning to lead things off.
Cobb delivered a two-seam fastball too high in the zone and Soto was all over it, launching a solo homer to left center field through the swirling winds in the Bronx to get on the board first. It was Soto’s first homer as a Yankee in the postseason.
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But that wasn’t the only scoring for New York in the frame, as Cobb started to lose control of his pitches. He walked Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe after two outs sprinkled in between before rookie manager Stephen Vogt in favor of the lefty Joey Cantillo.
Cantillo, though, did not have control of his own stuff and Bo Naylor couldn’t handle it behind the plate, as Judge scored on a wild pitch. Then, after walking Anthony Rizzo, Stanton scored on yet another wild pitch to make it 3-0.
Meanwhile, the tone was truly set on the mound for New York by Carlos Rodon, who was a workhorse through six innings in his second postseason outing.
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Rodon’s first outing with the Yankees didn’t go as planned despite a great start against the Kansas City Royals in Game 2, where he struck out the side to set the tone.
However, Rodon talked about being able to keep his emotions at bay after exuding a lot of energy in that loss to Kansas City, and that appeared to work in his favor this time around.
Rodon saw six strong innings for the Yankees, striking out nine and collecting 24 swings-and-misses from Guardians hitters. His only mistake was leaving a fastball due low to Brayan Rocchio, who turned out it for a solo homer in the top of the sixth inning.
But the Yankees delivered some insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Judge hit a sacrifice fly to score Gleyber Torres, who made his way around the bases after more Cantillo wild pitches.
Finally, Stanton, who was red hot in the ALDS, was locked in again at the plate when he mashed a high fastball to the left field bullpen for a solo homer to make it 5-1.
The Guardians were threatening to get back into this game when the Yankees called on lefty Tim Hill out of the bullpen in the top of the eighth. With runners on second and third with one out, Steven Kwan had a opposite field single to score Rocchio, making it 5-2.
But manager Aaron Boone saw enough to bring in his closer, Luke Weaver, for a five-out save opportunity. Weaver, who was lights out against Kansas City, delivered a strikeout in three pitches to pinch hitter Will Brennan and got the always-dangerous Jose Ramirez to ground out with runners at the corners to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Weaver walked his first hitter, but slammed the door on Cleveland with three straight strikeouts to end the game.
With Game 1 secured, the Yankees will host the Guardians on Tuesday night for Game 2 of the ALCS.
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