Except for Giancarlo Stanton‘s two-run homer off Shane Bieber, the Yankees had no offense on Friday. The Bombers only had six hits, and when they had runners in scoring position, they were 0 for 7 and left 11 runners on base. The game ended in the Guardians bullpen clinching a 4-2 win for Cleveland.
Aaron Judge, admitted that his timing at the plate is off right now, and the Yankees failed to pick up where Stanton left. The power hitter played 55 of the last 56 games of his record-setting season but has only played two games in the last nine days. The Yankees’ slugger didn’t get a hit for the second straight playoff game. The Guardians shut down the Bombers for nine innings and won Game 2 of the American League Division Series 4–2 in 10 innings at Yankees Stadium.
In the 10th, they scored two runs off Jameson Taillon, who was playing in the first playoff game of his career, by taking advantage of the Yankees’ mistakes. This gave them the win. Jose Ramirez hit a double and moved to third when Josh Donaldson made an error with his throw. He scored on Oscar Gonzalez’s shallow fly ball to right, and Josh Naylor’s fly ball that Harrison Bader couldn’t catch drove in another run.
And when the Yankees’ offense didn’t do well on Friday, he got most of the blame. Some of the 47,535 people booed Judge after he struck out for the fourth time in his fourth at-bat of the day. He went 0 for 8 in the first two ALDS games.
After the game, Aaron Judge told:
“I don’t want to make an excuse for anything. It’s on me. Timing is a little off. I gotta fix it. That’s really what it comes down to. There’s no excuses here. I got tonight to figure it out. And get ready for [Saturday].”
The best-of-five series is tied 1-1, and the next game is on Saturday night in Cleveland. It’s not just up to Judge to make it through this round.
The Yankees beat the Guardians by 24 runs during the regular season, but the Guardians were able to get through. Andres Gimenez, who used to be a prospect for the Mets, drove in a run with a single in the fourth inning, and Amed Rosario, who used to be a prospect for the Mets, hit a home run in the fifth. These two runs were scored against Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes, who went five innings.
The Yankees were not made to scrape together runs like the Guardians. They had the most home runs and scored the most runs in the AL. Judge hit 62 home runs in a single season, which was a record for the AL and the Yankees. He led the major leagues in OPS, slugging, and RBIs.
A defiant Aaron Boone, the manager of New York, told:
“Obviously you’re going up against Bieber, he’s going to be tough with his execution. We got into some deep counts there where we got into 3-2 and lost a lot of our 3-2 battles, but I thought [Trevor] Stephan really came in and executed. James Karinchak and [Emmanuel] Clase, we made them work but just ultimately weren’t able to break through. And for most of the day, it was one of those days where it’s a little bit tougher for the hitters to see it up there.”
From August 5 to October 4, Judge played in every game, but he doesn’t blame the pressure or the workload.
Stanton isn’t worried because he hit his 10th postseason home run in only his 20th postseason game.
“The show isn’t over yet. “I don’t know, maybe 10 or fewer at-bats,” Stanton said. “It’s a small number of people. He still has time. We must win two of the three games. He will help us do that.”
What led to the failure of the Yankees’ offense in ALDS Game 2?
