ALCS: Aaron Judge homers as Yankees beat Guardians for 2-0 series lead

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge sent the ball soaring toward Monument Park and Gleyber Torres tagged up at first base.

“That was disrespect out of Gleyber, man,” Judge said with a smile. “He’s seen me hit 58 of those things this year.”

Judge’s first home run of the postseason broke the tension, a two-run, seventh-inning drive that helped boost the New York Yankees over the Cleveland Guardians, 6-3, on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

“I’m a little disappointed in Gleyber for not knowing Judge’s pop there,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “We were ribbing him a lot about that. It’s a big swing for Judgey.”

Judge, who entered with just one RBI in the playoffs, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run second that put the Yankees ahead 3-0 – after Cleveland intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases.

“You want to try to get a double-play ball,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “You want to try to get two outs with one pitch.”

Judge, who led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs, was understanding.

“I would probably walk him, too,” he said.

With New York leading 4-2 lead in the seventh, the likely AL MVP drove a fastball at the letters from Hunter Gaddis 414 feet to center for his 14th career postseason home run.

“It was a big swing to kind of give us that cushion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The bench was pretty pumped when that happened.”

Judge also was good-natured about Torres’ decision to tag up.

“You never know on these windy, chilly nights what that ball is going to do when you hit it to center here,” he said. “but the ghosts were pulling out there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”

In a matchup of Orange County-bred aces who had off nights, Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (Cal State Fullerton, Mission Viejo High) got just just four outs in the shortest start of his professional career and an erratic Gerrit Cole (UCLA, Orange Lutheran High) was chased after four walks in 4⅓ innings.

“Just got to do better, got to do better,” the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner said.

Winner Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle combined for 3⅔ scoreless innings.

José Ramírez hit a ninth-inning home run off Luke Weaver, just the second earned run New York’s bullpen has allowed over 23⅓ innings in six postseason games.

After a day off, Game 3 is Thursday in Cleveland. The Yankees lead the ALCS 2-0 for the first time since 2009 against the Angels.

Torres reached base leading off for the fifth time in the playoffs and had three hits. Rizzo had two hits and is 3 for 7 in two games since returning from a pair of fractured fingers that caused him to miss the AL Division Series.

Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan committed run-scoring errors for the Guardians. Rocchio dropped Judge’s first-inning pop-up, allowing Torres to score.

“No excuse, I need to make that play,” Rocchio said through an interpreter. “I thought I was under the ball and last minute I was leaning towards second base.”

After Cleveland closed to 3-2, Brennan bobbled the ball when he tried for a barehand pickup of Rizzo’s sixth-inning double that caromed off the low wall down the right-field line. Anthony Volpe, who had been on first, sprinted home.

Steven Kwan extended his Cleveland-record postseason hitting streak to 12 games.

Alex Verdugo had a opposite-field RBI double in the two-run second that glanced off a shoulder of left field umpire Vic Carapazza and went down the line.

Cole escaped two-on, one-out trouble in the third and then a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth when pinch-hitter David Fry fouled out and Rocchio took a knuckle curve at the top of the strike zone for a called third strike in a nine-pitch at-bat.

Cleveland cut its deficit to 3-2 in the fifth when Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly and, after Holmes relieved with the bases loaded, Will Brennan grounded into a run-scoring force out. Holmes struck out Austin Hedges on low sinker to leave the bases loaded.

“They kind of made a little push there and we were able to stop it,” Holmes said.

Cleveland went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners. The Guardians are 1 for 11 RISP in the series.

“We’re one swing of the bat away from taking the lead in that game,” Vogt said. “We’re one swing of the bat from being right back in it. That is who we are. We don’t quit. We just need to keep being us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Guardians right-hander Alex Cobb was removed from the roster with a lower back strain sustained in the opener and replaced by right-hander Ben Lively.

UP NEXT

Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt starts Game 3 on Thursday in Cleveland. He allowed two runs and four hits over 4⅔ innings in ALDS Game 3, wasting a 2-0 lead before New York won, 3-2. He faced the Guardians once this year, pitching five scoreless innings before allowing a pair of runs – one unearned – in the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory. Cleveland wouldn’t commit to a starter but left-hander Matthew Boyd is a possibility. Bibee’s quick exit could allow him to start on short rest rather than in a Game 6.