ALCS: Home Runs, Wild Pitches Push Yankees Past Guardians

Two Yankees celebrating a win over the Guardians in Game One of the 2024 ALCS

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

October 14, 2024

Yankees 5, Guardians 2

A pair of home runs, a sacrifice fly, and a pair of wild pitches gave the New York Yankees the offensive punch they needed to defeat the Cleveland Guardians, 5–2, in Game One of the 2024 ALCS Monday night at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon held the Guardians to one run on three hits across six innings, walking none and striking out nine. Closer Luke Weaver inherited a mess in the eighth inning, entering with runners on the corners, one out, and the tying run at the plate. He escaped the jam and also pitched a scoreless ninth, preserving the win for the Yankees.

Yankees – Guardians Game Summary

The scoring began in the third, when Yankees right fielder Juan Soto led off the inning with a homer off Alex Cobb. Cobb walked the bases loaded before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt brought in Joey Cantillo to face Anthony Rizzo. The erratic Cantillo uncorked a wild pitch to bring in the Yankees’ second run before walking Rizzo. Cantillo also let loose a wild pitch to the next hitter, Alex Verdugo, to bring in a third Yankees run. Verdugo ultimately struck out, ending the third with the Yankees holding a 3–0 lead.

A fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge extended the Yankees’ lead to 4–0. Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio led off the sixth with a tall homer to left, cutting the Yankees’ lead to 4–1. Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-out tape-measure blast in the seventh to make the score 5–1.

The Guardians cracked three straight hits off Yankees reliever Tim Hill in the eighth, creeping within three runs as the score became 5–2. Hill left the game for Weaver as the Guardians had the tying run at the plate with one out. But Weaver struck out Will Brennan before Jose Ramirez grounded out, escaping the jam unscathed. Weaver also pitched a scoreless ninth to slam the door, striking out three in a row after a leadoff walk to give the Yankees a 1–0 series lead.

What Went Right for the Guardians

Long Relief

Pedro Avila relieved Cantillo with one out in the fourth and runners on the corners. He retired all eight hitters he faced. Despite the first out bringing in a run due to it being a sacrifice fly, Avila kept the Guardians in the game.

“Pedro’s great,” Vogt said in the postgame press conference. “He’s done that for us all year. He has come in, stopped the bleeding, stopped the game, and continued to get outs for us. Pedro has been phenomenal in that role for us all year long. It was great to see him back on the mound doing it.”

8–9–1 Production

Andres Gimenez, Brayan Rocchio, and Steven Kwan — the eighth, ninth, and leadoff hitter — produced almost all of the Guardians’ offense. They combined to go 4-for-10 with a home run, two runs scored, and two RBI. Additionally, they were responsible for seven of the team’s nine total bases as well as the only extra-base hit.

What Went Wrong for the Guardians

Starting Pitching

Granted, Cobb had to leave the game with back spasms as well as tightness in his left hip, but his time in the game did not go well. Eight of the sixteen hitters he faced reached base, five via hits and the remaining three on walks. His line was three runs on five hits, including the Soto homer, across 2 2/3 innings. He struck out three.

Control

Andrew Walters also unleashed a wild pitch, giving the team five for the game. Additionally, the pitching staff walked nine Yankees in the game. “We talked about this before the series started,” Vogt said. “These guys work the count. They don’t chase a whole lot. If I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better, and we didn’t tonight. They made us work.”

What Went Right for the Yankees

Starting Pitching

Carlos Rodon induced 25 swings and misses in his ALCS debut, leading to the pitching line mentioned earlier. “Gosh, he was good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone beamed. “It just felt like he was in — we talked about how would take the experience of the first time out, and he totally applied all of that. He was in complete command of himself and of his emotions. Stuff was excellent, had swing and miss.

“The fastball was really good, but he mixed in some good change-ups and even threw a couple of cutters in there tonight, which we haven’t seen a lot of. But he started with the fastball and the command of it, and generally speaking, getting ahead and having swing and miss, so he was able to put guys away over and over while also being real pitch-efficient.”

Rodon credited his teammates. “Austin (Wells) was great behind the plate,” he said. “He had a good idea of how he wanted to handle the hitters. Defensively, we had some great play out there as well from Judge and the infield. Then the bullpen coming in to shut the door was great. Offensively, we scored some runs with big swings from Soto and Big G and some competitive bats. It seems like we know the strike zone very well, so we played a very good game.”

Production from the Big Guns

Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton combined to go 4-for-12 with two homers, a sacrifice fly, five runs scored, and all three of the Yankees’ RBI.

Luke Weaver

Luke Weaver recorded a five-out save, stranding his two inherited runners while allowing no runs and no hits. He walked one while striking out four. According to the great Sarah Langs, this was the third time since saves became official in 1969 that a pitcher had three saves of more than three outs in his team’s first five games of a postseason. The others were Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera (2000) and Rich Gossage (1981). Coincidentally, all three are Yankees.

What Went Wrong for the Yankees

The Eighth Inning

Left-hander Tim Hill took the mound to pitch the eighth since three of the Guardians’ first four hitters due up were left-handed. Hill retired pinch-hitter Austin Hedges on a liner to right but did not get anyone else out, coughing up three consecutive hits to let in a run.

Obstruction in the Eighth

Hill also made another mistake, doing so on the second hit he allowed. With one out and Andres Gimenez on first, Rocchio singled to right. As he made the turn at first base, he collided with Hill, who was standing on the edge of the bag that faced second base. Soto snapped a throw to first, attempting the back-pick. Gimenez collided with Hill again shortly before Hill caught the ball and tagged him. On the first collision, first-base umpire Dan Iassogna pointed at Hill, indicating obstruction. When Hill applied the tag, Iassogna called time and made the obstruction ruling. After a discussion with the crew, Iassogna sent Rocchio to second base.

Even though Rocchio likely would not have made it to second, he still was sent there due to Rule 6.01 (h) (1). It reads, “If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to the bases they would have reached, in the umpire’s judgment, if there had been no obstruction. The obstructed runner shall be awarded at least one base beyond the base he had last legally touched before the obstruction.” (Emphasis added)

Quick Hits

Temperature at first pitch was 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest LCS game since Game One of the 2019 NLCS, which started at 45 degrees (Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals). This was the first ALCS at 50 degrees or colder since Game One of the 2018 ALCS (Houston Astros at Boston Red Sox), which also started at 50 degrees.

Guardians Miscellany

The Cleveland franchise is now 1–5 in Game One of the ALCS and 0–5 when playing Game One on the road. Their lone win came in 2016, a 2–0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays en route to the pennant. … Rocchio’s sixth-inning homer was the first postseason round-tripper of his career. … Bo and Josh Naylor are the first pair of brothers to appear in the same LCS game as teammates since Bengie and Jose Molina for the Los Angeles Angels in Game Two of the 2005 ALCS against the Chicago White Sox.

Joey Cantillo threw four wild pitches, the most in a game by any Cleveland reliever. It is also a franchise postseason record and the postseason record by an AL pitcher. The only other pitcher with four or more in a postseason game was Rick Ankiel, who threw five for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game One of the 2000 NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.

Yankees Miscellany

The Yankees are now 12–7 all-time in Game One of the ALCS, 7–4 at home. … The Yankees are the second team to ever score runs on two different wild pitches in the same inning of a postseason game. The other was the 2002 Minnesota Twins, who scored on wild pitches by Tim Hudson and Ted Lilly of the Oakland Athletics in Game Four of the ALDS. They are the first team, however, to score on two different wild pitches by the same pitcher in any postseason game. … Luke Weaver is the first Yankees pitcher with four saves in a single postseason since Mariano Rivera notched five in 2009, the last year the Yankees won the World Series.

Quotes

“Getting the start-off win is big. It’s a message in its own. But there’s still three to get. So we know this is good, but in our eyes, we haven’t done anything yet. We’ve got to win three (more) out of six, and we take that as three out of three.” — Giancarlo Stanton

“This team doesn’t quit, and that’s what I love the most about them. I know we’re going to come back out tomorrow ready to go and fight like we do.” — Stephen Vogt

Looking Ahead

Rodon earned the win, with Cobb taking the loss. Weaver notched his fourth save of the 2024 postseason.

The Yankees and Guardians will play Game Two of this best-of-seven series Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Righty Gerrit Cole (16–9, 3.96 ERA in 2024 regular season) will take the hill for the Yankees, facing Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee (12–8, 3.47 ERA in 2024 regular season) in a battle of staff aces. First pitch will be at 7:38 pm Eastern on TBS, truTV, and the Max streaming service.