Juan Soto’s home run broke through Cleveland’s pitching, which struggled throughout the game.
Soto gave New York the lead during a three-run third inning, Carlos Rodón earned his first postseason win, and the Yankees defeated the Guardians 5-2 in the opening game of the AL Championship Series. Cleveland’s pitchers threw five wild pitches and issued nine walks.
Giancarlo Stanton also hit his 13th career postseason homer, helping the Yankees pursue their 41st AL pennant and their first title since 2009. “Getting the start-off win is big,” Stanton said. “It’s a message in its own.”
Cleveland became the second team in postseason history to throw two run-scoring wild pitches in one inning and matched a postseason record with five wild pitches in total. Guardians pitchers walked six batters in a stretch of nine and ended with nine overall.
“They don’t chase a whole lot,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “If I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better.”
New York batters have walked 36 times in five postseason games. “That’s what they’re capable of. That’s in their DNA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We beat that over — we hammer it.”
Game 2 will take place at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Historically, teams winning the first game in a 2-3-2 series format have won 66 out of 99 times.
Soto came into the game with a strong track record against Alex Cobb, going 7 for 11 with two homers. In front of a sold-out crowd of 47,264, which included pop star Taylor Swift, Soto hit his first postseason homer for New York, sending a high slider from Cobb into the Yankees’ bullpen.
He made a circle sign with his hands as he rounded first base. “It’s only me and the bullpen,” Soto said, smiling. “We keep it to ourselves.”
Rodón bounced back from the Yankees’ only loss in the Division Series, allowing just two singles before Brayan Rocchio’s homer in the sixth inning.
“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodón said. “I thought I executed that well tonight.”
Stanton’s homer in the seventh inning increased the lead to 5-1. Steven Kwan cut into the Guardians’ deficit in the eighth with an RBI single, extending his postseason hitting streak to a team-record 11 games off Clay Holmes.
Luke Weaver came in to pitch with runners on the corners. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and then got José Ramírez to ground out.
In the ninth inning, after giving up a leadoff walk, he struck out three batters in a row for his fourth save of the postseason.
Making his first playoff appearance in 11 years, Alex Cobb walked the bases loaded in the third inning, and rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw two wild pitches that allowed runs to score.
Cantillo ended up with four wild pitches, just one shy of the postseason record set by Rick Ankiel of St. Louis in a 2000 NL Division Series game against Atlanta.
The only other time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning was when Minnesota did it against Tim Hudson and Ted Lilly of Oakland in the 2002 AL Division Series. “That performance was obviously the difference in the game, so that’s on me,” Cantillo said.
Cobb fell to 0-2 in the playoffs, making just his fifth start this year due to injuries. He threw 36 of his 65 pitches for strikes, got only one swing and miss, and allowed three runs, five hits, and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.
Cobb, who had hip surgery last October, had to leave the game because of tightness in his hip and a back spasm.
“It’s kind of been there for a little bit but, obviously, I had the surgery and tendinitis kind of flares up every once in a while,” Cobb said. “Sometimes the back will tighten up along with it.”
Rodón struck out nine batters and didn’t walk anyone, with 25 swings and misses out of 53 attempts, which is tied for the fourth-most misses in a postseason game since pitch tracking began in 2008.
His pitches were so effective that catcher Austin Wells had to throw to first base three times for the putouts on strikeouts. “He was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions,” Boone said.
However, New York knows it was just one game. The Yankees started the 2019 ALCS with a win against Houston but then lost three straight and were eliminated in six games.
“In our eyes, we haven’t done nothing yet,” Stanton said. “We’ve got to win three out of six, and we take that as three out of three.”
