Cole, big third-innings rally help Yankees conquer Guardians 11-2, level series

New York Yankees 11, Cleveland Guardians 2

CLEVELAND — Gerrit Cole didn’t get scared by Cleveland’s fast start and went on to pitch seven strong innings. Franchy Cordero‘s three-run homer rallied the Yankees in the third to overcome a 2-1 deficit and take a massive lead that helped beat the Guardians 11-2 on Tuesday night.

Yankees ride on Gerrit Cole’s mighty start

Cole (3-0) allowed two runs and three hits in the first inning before settling in and going 5-0 against Cleveland over the last two seasons. In last year’s AL Division Series, the right-hander defeated the Guardians twice.

Cole gave up five hits and struck out three batters. He is 10-2 in 13 career starts against Cleveland.

The Guardians only scored two runs against Cole in the playoffs. In the first, they scored twice against the right-hander and nothing else.

Cole controlled the strike zone at Progressive Field and the Guardians thanks to his powerful fastball. After the first inning, Cleveland was only able to get one runner to second base against the 32-year-old pitcher.

It started out so well for the Guardians. Steven Kwan hit a single off Cole to start the first inning, and Andrés Giménez, who was batting second for the first time this season, hit a hard smash to move Kwan to third. Then, José Ramrez hit a double that drove in a run.

Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. His “rock the baby” sign to Cole after he hit a home run in Game 4 in October will be remembered for a long time.

But, like Shane Bieber of Cleveland did the night before, Cole settled in and showed why he is one of baseball’s best.

Cordero led the third-innings rally

Cordero’s home run off Hunter Gaddis (0-1) in the Yankees’ five-run third gave Cole a big lead and helped the Yankees even the series after they lost the first game.

Anthony Rizzo drove in two runs for the Yankees, and Aaron Judge‘s on-base streak reached 44 games, making it the second longest in the major leagues since 2019. Since 1941, it is the third longest for the Yankees in their more than 100 years of history.

In the third, when the Yankees were down 2-1, they went after Gaddis. He let DJ LeMahieu hit a double to start the inning, and then hit Rizzo with two strikes and walked Gleyber Torres to load the bases.

Willie Calhoun hit a single that drove in a run, and Oswaldo Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly. Then, Cordero hit his third home run, a shot to right that put the Yankees ahead 6-2.

UP NEXT

Wednesday is the last game of the series, and the Yankees will start RHP Clarke Schmidt.

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