NEW YORK — The ALDS is now a best-of-three. Friday afternoon, Oscar Gonzalez and a dominating performance in the bullpen gave the Cleveland Guardians a 4-2 victory in 10 innings (The score of the box) in Game 2 against the New York Yankees. The series heads to Cleveland on Saturday night tied at one game apiece.
New York took an early 2-0 lead thanks to Giancarlo Stanton’s first inning home run, but the Guardians rallied to tie the game midway through the innings and then found grass with some weak pops -ups in the tenth moto to take the lead. Cleveland’s bullpen held the Yankees to a single in 4 1/3 innings.
Here are four takeaways from Game 2:
Stanton did a circuit when he should have walked
Shane Bieber got a free call from home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak in the first inning (or so he thought). His 3-1 cutter against Giancarlo Stanton was called a strike even though he was below the zone and a bit off home plate. Here is the location of the field:
baseball scholar
Guardians receiver Austin Hedges is an elite fielder and either stole a strike or Rehak simply blew the call. Either way, the call gave Bieber a reprieve and another chance to put Stanton out and end the first inning. He did not do it. The next pitch was a fastball but not enough, and Stanton parked it on the short right-field porch for a two-run homer and a 2-0 lead.
If the 3-1 pitch is called a pitch and Stanton walks, maybe the next batter (Josh Donaldson) will make an out to end the inning and block both runners. Or maybe he hits a three-run homer. Who knows? What we do know is that the strike call extended the fight and gave Stanton another chance to do some damage, and he capitalized.
With that home run, Stanton has dived nine times in his last 12 playoff games, and he’s hit 10 homers in 20 career playoff games. Only Carlos Beltrán (11) has homered more in 20 career playoff games. Stanton entered 2022 as a career .288/.372/.712 postseason hitter. The 2017 NL MVP was a one-man wrecking crew in October.
Cortes saved his own bacon
From the seat of his pants, no less. With the bases loaded and two out in the fourth inning, Myles Straw cut a comeback down the middle which Cortes reached and grabbed. He went down and landed on his behind, but was still able to make the throw to first base to get out. Straw is one of the fastest players in baseball. Cortes had no time to waste.
If Cortes doesn’t stop that, it’s in center field for a two-run single. At a minimum, knocking it down would have kept the ball in the infield and prevented the second inning from scoring. Getting the end of the inning on first base was almost a bonus.
Overall, the Guardians had two runs on the board in five innings against Cortes despite several chances to really put a dent in the scoreboard. They blocked a runner in four of five innings against the All-Star left-hander and had multiple runners in base in three of five innings. Cortes folded but ultimately didn’t break.
Judge struggling in the ALDS
In two games, Aaron Judge, 62 homers, is 0 for 8 with a walk and seven strikeouts in the ALDS, including 0 for 5 with four strikeouts in Game 2. The Guardians did a great job in keeping the AL MVP favorite in check. two games. Additionally, Judge has hit with zero runners on base in the series. They gave him no chance to do any damage.
Judge, it should be noted, went 8 for 37 (.216) with 15 strikeouts in his last 13 regular season games, limping a little late. He also went 1 for 20 with 16 — 16! – strikeouts against Cleveland in the 2017 ALDS. Between this series and this one, he hit .242/.354/.550 with 10 HR in 29 postseason games. The Guardians seem to have his number in October.
Cleveland was rewarded for the contact
No baseball team has put the ball in play more often than the Guardians this season, and in the tenth inning, that contact ability was rewarded with two hits to win the game. First, José Ramírez dove what should have been a shallow left single, but because he rushed to second on the play, Josh Donaldson rushed the pitch and he sailed away from the second goal, allowing Ramírez to reach the third without out. A bit of in-game luck and a bit of a hustle and bustle set Cleveland up.
The next batter, Oscar Gonzalez, fell behind in the 0-2 count, fouled a few pitches to make it 1-2, then threw a go-ahead single right. The ball was perfectly placed between first baseman Aaron Rizzo and right fielder Aaron Judge.
Based on exit velocity and launch angle, Statcast gave Ramírez’s ball a 9% change from dropping for a hit, and Gonzalez a 37% chance. Well placed is better than well hit. Again, Josh Naylor smoked a ball with an exit velocity of 108.5 mph over Harrison Bader’s head a batter later, giving the Guardians a major insurance run. Well hit works too.
Cleveland was rewarded for the contact in the tenth inning while the Yankees struggled to establish the contact period. Three Guardians relievers combined to face 18 batters and they allowed only six balls in play (eight strikeouts, four walks, three rushes, one steal, one forced out and one single).
Next
Game 3 at Cleveland on Saturday night. The Game 2 postponement means there are no more byes left in this series, so the Yankees and Guardians are playing every day until this one is settled. Triston McKenzie (11-11, 2.96 ERA) and Luis Severino (7-3, 3.18 ERA) are the scheduled starters for Game 3. The first team to win advances to the ALCS.