Aaron Judge hit his first homer this postseason and drove in three runs as the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 for a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series on Tuesday night.
Judge, who entered with just one RBI in the playoffs, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run second that put the Yankees ahead 3-0. With New York leading 4-2 lead in the seventh, the likely AL MVP drove a fastball at the letters from Hunter Gaddis 414 feet to center for his 14th career postseason home run.
Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee got just four outs in the shortest start of his professional career and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was chased after four walks in 4 1/3 innings.
Winner Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings. José Ramírez hit a ninth-inning home run off Luke Weaver, just the second earned run New York’s bullpen has allowed over 23 1/3 innings in six postseason games.
After a day off, Game 3 is Thursday in Cleveland. The Yankees lead the ALCS 2-0 for the first time since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.
New York’s Gleyber Torres reached base leading off for the fifth time in the playoffs and had three hits. Anthony Rizzo had two hits and is 3 for 7 in two games since returning from a pair of fractured fingers that caused him to miss the Division Series.
Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan committed run-scoring errors for the Guardians.
Rocchio dropped Judge’s first-inning popup, allowing Torres to score. After Cleveland closed to 3-2, Brennan bobbled the ball when he tried for a barehand pickup of Rizzo’s sixth-inning double that caromed off the low wall down the right-field line. Anthony Volpe, who had been on first, sprinted home.
Cleveland went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.
Fry's walk-off homer in 10th inning caps Cleveland Guardians' stunning comeback win over New York Yankees
Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry saved the Cleveland Guardians' season with a pair of dramatic home runs.
After Noel hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the score, Fry's two-run homer in the 10th propelled the Guardians to a 7-5 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday in an instant classic to pull Cleveland within 2-1 in the AL Championship Series.
The Yankees were trailing 3-1 with two outs in the eighth inning until Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs off All-Star closer Emanuel Clase, with Judge tying the score with a two-run blast and Stanton following with a solo shot.
New York tacked on another run in the top of the ninth to take a 5-3 lead and was one out away from taking a 3-0 series lead, but Lane Thomas then doubled off Luke Weaver to set up Noel's game-tying bomb to send the Cleveland crowd into a frenzy.
After the Yankees failed to score in the top of the 10th, Bo Naylor singled to lead off the bottom of the inning and came around to score on Fry's game-ending home run in front of a raucous crowd.
Rookie Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run homer in the third inning for the Guardians, who can even the series in Game 4 on Friday.
Dodgers pound Mets again to grab 3-1 lead in NLCS
Shohei Ohtani started off Game 4 with a lead-off home run to set the tone in the Los Angeles Dodgers' latest blowout win over the New York Mets - a 10-2 trouncing for a 3-1 lead in the NL Championship Series.
Ohtani scored four runs, while No. 2 hitter Mookie Betts went 4 for 6 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored to help the Dodgers move within one win of reaching the World Series.
Los Angeles, which scored nine runs in winning the NLCS opener and plated eight runs in Game 3, won without Freddie Freeman, as the All-Star first baseman rested a swollen right ankle.
Tommy Edman stepped up with three RBIs, and Max Muncy set a single-season play-off record by reaching base in 12 consecutive plate appearances. He had two homers, two singles and eight walks during his run, which ended in the eighth inning.
The Mets had 10 hits, but were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
New York needs to win Game 5 on Friday at Citi Field to send the series back to Los Angeles, while the Dodgers can secure an NL record 25th pennant with one more victory.
MLB: Ohtani hits massive 3-run homer as Dodgers roll to 2-1 NLCS lead
Shohei Ohtani hit a mammoth three-run homer, Kike Hernandez added another postseason home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers notched their second shutout of the NL Championship Series, 8-0 over the New York Mets for a 2-1 lead on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles rebounded from a loss at home to grab the advantage in the best-of-seven series by pitching its fourth shutout in the past five playoff games.
Ohtani connected in the eighth, a 410-foot drive that soared into the second deck in right field and barely stayed fair above the foul pole for a 7-0 lead.
Max Muncy went deep in the ninth for his 13th career postseason homer, tying Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the franchise record. Muncy also connected in Game 2.
A fired-up Walker Buehler struck out Francisco Lindor to leave the bases loaded, and the Dodgers got five stingy innings from their hard-throwing bullpen. Buehler combined with four relievers on a four-hitter and Dodgers pitchers finished with 13 strikeouts.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Queens, with $325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled to start for Los Angeles against veteran left-hander Jose Quintana.
Luis Severino fell behind 2-0 in the second, partly due to some shoddy fielding. He did not permit an earned run but threw 95 pitches and walked four in 4 2/3 innings, taking the loss.
Reed Garrett served up Hernandez’s homer and Tylor Megill gave up four runs in three innings, including homers by Ohtani and Muncy.
Mets even NLCS, Yankees take Game 1 of ALCS
Francisco Lindor ended the Los Angeles Dodgers' streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings with a lead-off home run, and Mark Vientos had a grand slam later on as the New York Mets evened the National League Championship Series with Monday's 7-3 Game 2 victory.
New York, the sixth and lowest seed in the NL play-offs, also received five-plus effective innings from Sean Manaea to bounce back from a 9-0 loss to the top-seeded Dodgers in Sunday's series opener.
Los Angeles entered Game 2 off three straight shutout victories to tie the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the longest run of consecutive scoreless innings in a post-season in MLB history.
Lindor quickly prevented the streak from going any further, however, as he blasted a pitch from opener Ryan Brasier into the right field seats to begin the contest. The Mets then broke the game open with five runs off Landon Knack in the second inning.
Starling Marte started the second with a single for his first of three hits on the day, and Knack walked Jesse Winker before surrendering Tyrone Taylor's one-out double that plated Marte for a 2-0 lead.
After Lindor was intentionally walked to load the bases with two out, Vientos extended the margin to 6-0 with his third homer of this post-season.
Manaea kept the Dodgers off the board until Max Muncy's solo homer in the fifth, though the left-hander departed after issuing back-to-back walks to Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez to start the bottom of the sixth.
After an error by Mets second baseman Jose Iglesias loaded the bases, Tommy Edman drove in Betts and Hernandez with a single off Phil Maton to bring Los Angeles within 6-3.
The Dodgers threatened again in the eighth by putting two on with two out, but New York closer Edwin Diaz got Enrique Hernandez to fly out and protect the Mets' three-run cushion.
After Marte singled in Pete Alonso in the top of the ninth for the Mets' final run, Diaz worked out of another jam in the bottom of the inning by striking out Betts, Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in succession with two runners on.
The Mets will now host the next three games of this best-of-seven series, with Game 3 to take place Wednesday.
Rodon pitches Yankees to 1-0 lead over Guardians in ALCS
New York's other team also came out a winner on Monday, as the Yankees opened the American League Championship Series with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians behind six sharp innings from Carlos Rodon.
Rodon struck out nine without a walk and held Cleveland to one run on three hits to help give the Yankees the early upper hand in this clash between the AL's two best teams of the regular season. The left-hander did not permit a run until Brayan Rocchio led off the top of the sixth with a solo homer.
Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton backed Rodon's gem with solo homers, and the Yankees also capitalised on seven walks and five wild pitches thrown by Cleveland hurlers.
Top-seeded New York will attempt to take a 2-0 lead behind ace Gerrit Cole on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, with the Guardians slated to throw 12-game winner Tanner Bibee.
Soto started the scoring with a lead-off homer off Alex Cobb that ignited a three-run third inning for the Yankees. Cobb would issue three walks before departing with two out in favour of Joey Cantillo, who uncorked a pair of wild pitches that enabled Aaron Judge and Stanton to score.
Cantillo threw two more wild pitches after walking Gleyber Torres in the fourth, which set up Judge's sacrifice fly that brought in Torres for a 4-0 lead.
Rocchio's homer in the sixth got Cleveland on the board, but the Yankees countered in the seventh on Stanton's 13th career post-season homer.
The Guardians made a bid to get back in it in the eighth with three singles off reliever Tim Hill, including Steven Kwan's hit that knocked in Andres Gimenez and trimmed the deficit to 5-2.
New York then summoned closer Luke Weaver, who struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and retired All-Star Jose Ramirez on an inning-ending groundout to strand two runners.
Weaver recorded three more strikeouts in the ninth to end the game and earn his fourth save of the post-season.
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