Aaron Judge ends home run drought at the perfect time to put Yankees two wins away from the World Series
The Yankees are approaching their first World Series appearance since 2009 and Aaron Judge appears to be back in form at the perfect time.
The New York captain scored with a two-run home run in the seventh inning on Tuesday night to ensure he and his teammates head to Cleveland for Game 3 with a 2-0 lead.
The best-of-seven American League Championship Series is firmly in the hands of the Yankees, and the team has won its first two games against the LA Angels in this phase of the playoffs for the first time since 2009. That year they won the World Series.
In the boisterous Bronx, there was no Taylor Swift or Travis Kelce to entertain the crowd, but Judge’s home run and three RBIs kept eyes firmly on the field.
Judge hit his first postseason homer since Game 5 of the 2022 AL Division Series, sending a 1-1 fastball from Hunter Gaddis into the net at Monument Park behind the center field fence to give the Yankees a 6-2 lead .
It was only his third hit of the postseason, but his 14th career playoff homer.
In the first inning, Gleyber Torres scored New York’s first run when Cleveland shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped Judge’s pop-up.
Judge also made a sacrifice fly in the second inning to make it 3-0 after the Guardians elected to intentionally walk Juan Soto to load the bases.
Alex Verdugo added an RBI double between Judge’s first two at-bats. New York’s Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double in the sixth.
Judge’s blast came on a tough night for New York ace Gerrit Cole, who allowed two runs on six hits in a tough 4 1/3-inning outing. Cole struck out four and walked four in his shortest postseason appearance since over two innings in the 2021 wild-card game in Boston.
Cole left two behind in the third inning by striking out Jose Ramirez for the final out and left the bases loaded in the fourth by getting a called third strike with his curveball to Rocchio.
Cleveland pulled within 3-1 on Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Cole was replaced by Clay Holmes on a walk for Lane Thomas to load the bases with one out. Holmes gave up a runscoring groundout to Will Brennan, walked the bases again, but then struck out Austin Hedges to end the inning.
Holmes (2-0) was one of four New York relievers who combined to throw 4 2/3 innings. Luke Weaver allowed a one-out homer to Ramirez in the ninth before closing out the victory.
Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee (0-1) gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. He fanned two and threw one away. The Guardians used seven relievers the rest of the way.