BRONX, NY — The Guardians know their task at hand, so do the Yankees. Tuesday night in the Bronx, there were a few Yankees base-running blunders and Aaron Judge hit his first home run of this postseason. The Guardians bullpen known as the best in baseball failed to recognize that distinction.
Truth be told, the Yankees are two wins away from advancing to their first World Series since 2009, a year when they won it all. Tuesday evening, they took a 2-0 advantage, a 6-3 Game 2 win in the best-of-seven ALCS. The Yankees packed their bags and head to Cleveland seeking those two wins with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday evening.They are also aiming to possibly seek a sweep.
Aaron Judge hit his first home run of the 2024 postseason on Tuesday night in Game 2 of the ALCS – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Then again these are the Guardians, a team that won’t go down quietly and deserve to be here, Central division winners in the American League. But these two ball games in the Bronx showed more and why the Yankees finished with the best record in the league and have home field advantage.
Timely hits and good pitching have placed the Yankees in a good position. The bottom of the lineup making contact, bullpen work has been superb. And Judge hit a home run, so everything right now is sitting good for the Yankees, except for starter Gerrit Cole who lost his command a bit. That gave the Guardians some opportunities they could not take advantage of.
Across 4.1 innings in Game 2 of the ALCS, Gerrit Cole allowed two runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The Yankees bullpen in this series, two earned runs in 30 innings. Study in contrast, the Cleveland bullpen which has been so dominant continued their downfall. Then again, Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, and Hunter Gaddis who recorded sub .200 ERA’s during the season can only do so much.
League leader in saves, Emmanuel Clase can’t finish the job. The opportunities in these first two games have not been presented. Basically, Guardians starters have pitched 22-⅓ innings in seven postseason games, three innings per start.
Emmanuel Clase (2022 AL LatinoMVP Reliever/Closer of the Year) has yet to appear in the ALCS – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/ Latino Sports
So when the Yankees made two base-running blunders in the same inning, Anthony Rizzo and Jazz Chisholm Jr, picked off second base, the Guardians could not capitalize. This is postseason baseball and the first two games are indicating the Yankees are the better team.
“It’s about getting wins,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “We’re in the postseason. I mean these things are going to happen. We’re going for a double steal. If he (Chisholm) gets thrown out at third, you don’t say anything, but he got picked off doing it. It’s going to happen. We’re not going to not be aggressive in certain situations.”
Aaron Boone and the Yankees are two wins away from clinching the AL Pennant – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
But the Yankees have been aggressive with their at-bats. A certain feeling is they want to take two more in Cleveland. At least they can return to the Bronx and have another clinching celebration in front of their home crowd with a potential Game 6 Monday evening.
Another trip to the World Series which is always an agenda for their franchise is certainly looking very possible. In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams taking a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the series 76 of 91 times, (84%). Though the Guardians will have their home fans waving towels and giving their team a boost to get this series even at Progressive Field.
Stephen Vogt and the Cleveland Guardians are down 0-2 in the best of seven ALCS – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt about his pen being taxed and going into Game 3: “These guys here have pitched a lot all year. We didn’t overextend anyone today. We didn’t overextend anyone yesterday. So with the off day, our bullpen should be right back to full strength.”
But this is a team that is not accustomed to a starter pitching three innings or less, a bullpen more adapted to taking over after six innings. And with 47 regular season saves coming from Clase, the Guardians have not been able to hold a lead and get the win.
It hasn’t worked that formula in these first two games of the series. Vogt is confident the hits will come, and the starters will provide more length, if not this could be a quick series and a season of disappointment.
Cleveland’s Game 2 ALCS starter Tanner Bibee lasted 1.1 innings on Tuesday in the Bronx with two runs allowed on five hits and one walk – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“At the beginning of the year, in a lot of people’s eyes.we weren’t supposed to be here, but we’ve always known we’re supposed to be here,” said starter Tanner Bibee who recorded just four outs in the shortest outing of his career.
“It’s tough,” he said. “Obviously you don’t want to go out like that. But there’s nothing you can do about it now.”
But something can be done and it has to begin with Game 3. Vogt hasn’t named a starter, though indications are Mathew Boyd will have to be a savior to provide length and get the Guardians to make this a series.
José Ramírez and the Guardians will look to make this ALCS a series in Cleveland as they stare at a 0-2 deficit – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
They are confident it will be done. Clean baseball, length from the starter, score some runs, get the ball to their closer. The only highlight was José Ramírez hitting a ninth inning home run off Luke Weaver, the Yankees bullpen second earned run allowed in the series.
“There’s a reason it’s a seven-game series,” Bibee said.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and contributor at latinosports.com – X (Twitter): Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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