Juan Soto’s home run broke through Cleveland’s pitching, which then struggled. Soto gave New York the lead during a three-run third inning, and Carlos Rodón earned his first postseason victory as the Yankees defeated the Guardians 5-2 in the AL Championship Series opener.
This game saw Cleveland throw five wild pitches and walk nine batters. Giancarlo Stanton contributed with his 13th career postseason homer as the Yankees aim for their 41st AL pennant and their first since winning the title in 2009.
“Getting the start-off win is big,” Stanton said. “It’s a message in its own.”
Cleveland became the second team ever to have two run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason inning and tied the record for the most wild pitches in a postseason game with five. Guardians pitchers walked six batters in a span of nine and a total of nine in the game.
“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 hitters 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 opener in a 2-3-2 series format have won 66 out of 99 times.
Soto had previously hit 7 for 11 with two homers against starter Alex Cobb. In front of a packed 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 in right-center.
He made a circle sign with his hands toward the relievers 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 only two singles before giving up a homer to Brayan Rocchio 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 helped reduce the Guardians’ deficit by extending his postseason hitting streak to a team-record 11 games with an RBI single in the eighth off Clay Holmes.
Luke Weaver came in to pitch with runners on first and third base. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and got José Ramírez to ground out. In the ninth inning, after a leadoff walk, he recorded three straight strikeouts for his fourth save this postseason.
Cobb, making his first playoff appearance in 11 years, loaded the bases in the third inning. Rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw two wild pitches that allowed runs to score. Cantillo had four wild pitches in total, just one short of the postseason record set by Rick Ankiel of St. Louis in a 2000 NL Division Series game.
This was only the second time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning, with the previous instance being Minnesota against Oakland in 2002. “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, managed 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 hip tightness and back spasms.
“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 without walking any, generating 25 misses out of 53 swings, which ties 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 on strikeouts.
“He was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions,” Boone said.
However, New York knows that this was just one game. The Yankees started the 2019 ALCS with a win in Houston but then lost three straight games and were eliminated in six.
“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.”
