Juan Soto was intentionally walked to load the bases for Aaron Judge.
Yes, that just happened.
The Yankees started the second inning of Tuesday night’s Game 2 of the ALCS against the Guardians in The Bronx with three hits.
The first two came two singles from Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo, followed by an RBI double by Alex Verdugo to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Gleyber Torres, the next batter, popped up, setting up a second and third and one out situation.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, realizing how important this Game 2 was for Cleveland and seeing it could be in danger of getting away from Cleveland, first decided to walk a hot Soto to face the struggling Judge.
Vogt followed that up by pulling his ace Tanner Bibbee in favor of one of his high-leverage relievers, the flame-throwing Cade Smith, to face Judge.
With the bases loaded and one out, Judge hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 Yankee but did not hit a game-changing blast.
After that, Smith buckled down to strike out the next batter, Austin Wells, to get the Guardians out of the second inning with just two runs, minimizing the damage.
Vogt explained during an in-game interview his decision to pull Bibbee.
“It was time to get Cade and go stop it,” Vogt told TBS reporter Lauren Jbara. “Hopefully we get some offense going.”
Judge popped up in the first inning with runners on first and third, but it was dropped by shortstop Brayan Rocchio to gift the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
The Guardians have still been held scoreless, but Smith retired the Yankees in order in the following third inning to keep Cleveland in it.