The Yankees flew past the Cleveland Guardians to grab a 5-2 win in Game 1 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium. That gave them a 1-0 lead in the series and has them three wins away from what would be their first World Series since 2009.
Joey Cantillo fell apart a bit on the mound after stepping in for starter Alex Cobb. He allowed two more Yankees runs on wild pitches, which gave New York a 3-0 lead. Cantillo eventually struck out Alex Verdugo to end the inning — his second wild pitch bounced in front of the plate, which allowed Giancarlo Stanton to sneak home — but he walked two more batters in the next inning before he was replaced by Pedro Avila.
The Yankees added another run in the fourth when Aaron Judge hit a sacrifice fly to score Gleyber Torres, which pushed the lead to four.
While the Guardians finally got on the board in the sixth off a Brayan Rocchio solo home run and added another run when Steven Kwan hit an RBI single in the eighth, that was as close as they got. The Yankees scored one more off a Stanton solo shot in the seventh and held on to grab the three-run win.
Yankees starter Carlos Rodón had nine strikeouts and allowed three hits in his six innings on the mound. Luke Weaver came in for a five-out save, and he closed the game by striking out Austin Hedges. Weaver is the first pitcher since 2017 to record three saves of more than three outs in a single postseason.
The two teams will run it back Tuesday before the series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3. The Guardians haven't been past the ALDS since they fell to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series.
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Ryan Young
Final: Yankees 5, Guardians 2
And that'll do it. The Yankees officially get the win to take a 1-0 series lead over the Guardians.
That's a quick inning for the Guardians there, so we'll head to the ninth. The Yankees are now just three outs away from a Game 1 win.
Ian Casselberry
Luke Weaver gets out of a jam
Luke Weaver gets the Yankees out of the eighth, striking out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and getting Jose Ramirez to ground out to second on five pitches.
That's enough for Aaron Boone, who brings in closer Luke Weaver for a five-out save opportunity.
Ian Casselberry
Guardians have runners on 2B and 3B with no outs after interference call
Guardians get two runners on with one out in the top of the eighth. Andres Gimenez singles, then Brayan Rocchio hits a single. However, Tim Hill is ruled to have interfered with Rocchio as he rounded first base. So Gimenez is awarded third base, while Rocchio gets second.
Umps give Brayan Rocchio second base here as they call interference on Tim Hill pic.twitter.com/dfsqI34KyO
Erik Sabrowski almost got out of the seventh inning, retiring Aaron Judge and Austin Wells. He then had one strike on Giancarlo Stanton, who crushed a ball to deep left field.
Three up, three down for the Guardians in the top of the seventh. Lane Thomas grounded out to second base, Josh Naylor flew out to center field, and pinch-hitter Kyle Manzardo struck out.
Erik Sabrowski struck out Juan Soto to end the bottom of the sixth. Clay Holmes is now taking the mound for the Yankees.
Carlos Rodon's final line: 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits and 9 strikeouts.
Ian Casselberry
Pitching change for Cleveland
After striking out Alex Verdugo and getting Gleyber Torres to fly out to center, Pedro Avila is out of the ballgame. Left-hander Erik Sabrowski now in for the Guardians.
Ian Casselberry
Long Story Short
MLB.com's Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch is having some fun with Taylor Swift in the ballpark:
Carlos Rodon allowed a solo homer in the 6th, but he knew All Too Well that he had to Shake It Off. A big key to his effort tonight was remembering, You Need To Calm Down. Yankees lead, 4-1.
Carlos Rodon gets out of the top of the sixth, but Jose Ramirez hit his last pitch (of a nine-pitch at-bat) deep to left center. Aaron Judge tracked it down for the final out of the inning.
Rodon retired three consecutive batters after giving up Brayan Rocchio's home run, getting a Steven Kwan groundout to third base and a David Fry flyout to right before Ramirez gave his ball a ride.
Pedro Avila calmed things down for Cleveland in the bottom of the fifth, retiring the side in order.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to second base, Anthony Volpe flew out to the warning track in right field, and Anthony Rizzo flew out to left field.
To the top of the sixth we go with the Yankes leading 4–0.
Ian Casselberry
Carlos Rodon is rolling
Two more strikeouts for Carlos Rodon in a 1-2-3 top of the fifth. He has nine strikeouts for the game and needed only 11 pitches to finish out the frame.
Rodon has allowed only two hits through five innings on 70 pitches.
Ian Casselberry
3 fly ball outs for the Yankees in the 4th
Pedro Avila gets three fly ball outs, though one scored a run. Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton each fly out, and the Guardians finally get out of the fourth inning.
Ian Casselberry
Aaron Judge has first RBI of the postseason
Yankees lead 4–0 on an Aaron Judge sacrifice fly to center field.
Joey Cantillo's control continues to be an issue. After bouncing two wild pitches and letting two runs score in the third, the left-hander threw two more wild pitches.
He walked Gleyber Torres to lead off the frame. Torres then advanced to second with another wild pitch, throwing a curveball that didn't curve and went high over Bo Naylor. One more bounced pitch moved Torres to third.
Another two wild pitches for Joey Cantillo, his third and fourth of the night pic.twitter.com/Gf2VxjM5Qg
After walking Juan Soto, Cantillo is out. Runners on first and third with no outs as Pedro Avila takes the mound for Cleveland.
Ian Casselberry
No trouble in the 4th for Carlos Rodon
The fourth inning was where Carlos Rodon ran into trouble during his ALDS Game 2 start versus the Royals.
But he cruises through the fourth against the Guardians, getting Jose Ramirez to line out to center feld before striking out Lane Thomas and Josh Naylor to end the frame.
Cantillo then walked Anthony Rizzo to reload the bases, prompting a visit from Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis.
Ian Casselberry
Alex Cobb is out
Alex Cobb walked Giancarlo Stanton after being checked on by trainers. That was followed by getting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out to left. But after walking Anthony Volpe to load the bases, Stephen Vogt got his starting pitcher out of the game.
Left-hander Joey Cantillo is in for the Guardians to face Anthony Rizzo.
Ian Casselberry
Trainers check on Alex Cobb
After walking Aaron Judge on seven pitches, trainers come out to check on Alex Cobb. He's been dealing with a blister and cracked fingernail.
He's staying in the game, however, and struck out Austin Wells on a splitter.
Yankees strike first
Juan Soto has his first postseason home run as a Yankee, crushing a hanging sinker to center field.
Carlos Rodon sandwiched strikeouts of Brayan Rocchio and David Fry around a Steven Kwan flyout to left field. He finished the top of the third in 10 pitches.
Alex Cobb has better control of his sinker than he did in ALDS Game 3 versus Detroit. He struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr. with it, then got Anthony Volpe to ground out to third.
But Anthony Rizzo hit that sinker for a single in his return to the Yankees lineup. That was followed by another single from Alex Verdugo.
Cobb finished the inning by getting Gleyber Torres to ground out to third.
Yankees have stranded four runners through two innings. Scoreless headed to the third pic.twitter.com/C7ElOrtRoa
After Josh Naylor struck out to lead off the second, Jhonkensy Noel got a one-out single. But Carlos Rodon retired Bo Naylor on a fly out to right field and struck out Andres Gimenez to get out of the inning.
After allowing two consecutive singles to begin the bottom of the first, Alex Cobb struck out Aaron Judge, got Austin Wells to ground out to second base, and ended the inning with Giancarlo Stanton flying out to left field.
(Did the wind hold up that fly ball? Maybe...)
Ian Casselberry
Aaron Judge called out on strikes
Aaron Judge struck out looking. But Alex Cobb got an extremely generous call on a splitter that was low and inside, way out of the strike zone.
Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto have both hit singles to begin the bottom of the first.
Two runners on, no outs.
Ian Casselberry
Carlos Rodon throws a scoreless 1st inning
Carlos Rodon gave up a one-out single to David Fry after retiring Steven Kwan. But he followed up by getting Jose Ramirez to fly out and striking out ALDS Game 5 hero Lane Thomas.
Yankees coming up in the bottom of the first.
Ian Casselberry
Stiff wind in right field
Jose Ramirez's fly ball to right field ran into the strong wind blowing in at the part of Yankee Stadium.
Ian Casselberry
Kwan vs. Rodon: 9-pitch at-bat
Steven Kwan flys out to lead off the top of the first inning. But he grinded out a nine-pitch at-bat versus Carlos Rodon.
Ian Casselberry
Pregame festivities and intros underway at Yankee Stadium
