When all is said and done, the Guardians may well prove to give the Yankees a tough test over the course of the ALCS.
It did not happen in Game 1.
The Yankees did not exactly walk all over their latest AL Central foe, but they did walk, take advantage of four wild pitches and slug just enough to make sure Carlos Rodon’s dominant outing did not go to waste in a 5-2 win over the Guardians on Monday night in The Bronx.
Rodon turned in a strong bounce-back start from his ALDS letdown, tossing six innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts (seven via his slider) and 25 whiffs. He succeeded in his goal of maintaining his composure, after not being able to do so against the Royals last week, and got the Yankees off on the right foot in the ALCS.
The Yankees were unable to break the game open because they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position — making it 6-for-42 through five playoff games — but did enough to get by.
In addition to solo home runs from Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees drew seven walks and scored three runs thanks in large part to Guardians reliever Joey Cantillo — Cleveland’s latest version of the Wild Thing — throwing four wild pitches.
After Soto took Alex Cobb deep to lead off the third inning for a 1-0 lead, the right-hander walked the bases loaded and got knocked out of the game. Cantillo entered and spiked a pair of fastballs that allowed Aaron Judge and then Stanton to score from third to make it 3-0. One came during an at-bat by Anthony Rizzo, who went 1-for-3 with a walk in his first game back after fracturing two fingers 16 days ago.
Cantillo came back out for the fourth inning and walked Gleyber Torres, then threw two more wild pitches to Soto, which allowed Torres to take third and score on Judge’s sacrifice fly that made it 4-0.
The Guardians finally cracked the scoreboard against Rodon in the sixth inning, when No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio turned on an inside fastball and drilled it for a solo home run that cut the deficit to 4-1.
But Rodon did not let his night unravel because of a long ball — as he did in the ALDS when Salvador Perez took him deep — retiring the top of the Guardians lineup in order to finish his night in style.
On a night when he ended five of six innings with a strikeout, Rodon gave himself plenty of opportunities to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but instead kept them inside, which worked to his advantage.
Stanton then gave the Yankees some breathing room in the seventh inning, launching a missile of a home run onto the back wall of the Guardians bullpen. The 439-foot shot put the Yankees up 5-1 and continued a monster postseason for the veteran DH.
The Guardians got the run back in the top of the eighth inning against lefty Tim Hill, thanks in part to an obstruction call. With one out and a runner on first, Rocchio roped a ball off of the diving Rizzo’s glove and into right field. Rocchio ran into Hill, covering first base, as he rounded the bag and again as he went back to it. Hill had the ball in his glove the second time and tagged Rocchio, but umpires called the pitcher for obstruction, allowing Rocchio to take second.
Steven Kwan came up next and laced a single through the left side to make it 5-2 — marking the first earned run the Yankees bullpen has allowed this postseason.
Aaron Boone then called on Luke Weaver for the five-out save and he delivered, lifting the Yankees to a 1-0 lead in the series.