• The Yankees never had any plans to skip the ALDS.
• They have too much respect for the Guardians and the other teams.
• They fervently believed that their journey would be simpler than this.

The Yankees never had any plans to skip the American League Division Series (ALDS) because they have too much respect for the Guardians and the other teams competing at what manager Aaron Boone refers to as “the finest level in the land.” But they fervently believed that their journey would be simpler than this.

Giancarlo Stanton’s early home run gave the Yankees hope that they could use their bat power to blitz their way to a sizable series lead, but the Bombers’ bats remained quiet. Instead, the Yankees lost to the Guardians by a score of 4-2, tying the best-of-five ALDS series at one victory each, as a few errant throws in the bottom of the 10th inning found grass.

Aaron Judge, who has struck out four times and has not had a hit in the ALDS, stated, “We’ve endured difficulty throughout this whole long season on our route to winning the division” (0-for-8, seven strikeouts, one walk). “To us, this is nothing new. There are men in this room who can finish the job outside.

39 times before, clubs split the opening two games of a Division Series using the current 2-2-1 format (excluding the 2020 series played at neutral sites). The club returning home for Games 3 and 4 progressed 26 times (67%) in those 39 series.
We never anticipated this being simple, according to Boone. “We’ll board that flight to Cleveland and head out to try and find one tomorrow. For us, nothing alters. This season, nothing has been simple for us, especially in the back half.

The Yankees’ offensive performance was led by Stanton’s first-inning home run, which was his 10th postseason home run overall. Jeremie Rehak’s decision to rule a 3-1 fastball low and away as a strike clearly incensed Stanton, who promptly hit Shane Bieber’s subsequent pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run home run.

Stanton commanded, “You’ve got to lock it back in.” “I wouldn’t have been able to hit the home run if I continued to worry about that.”

A Cleveland squad that has staked its hopes on pitching and timely hitting was where Bieber opened the floodgates. Although fan favorite Nestor Cortes made his playoff debut and limited Cleveland to two runs over five innings, the Yanks only managed six hits overall, including five against Bieber, who pitched for 5 2/3 innings.

Although Cortes assured fans that the Yankees would “fight back” in Game 3, it is noteworthy that Judge’s spectacular regular season has not yet carried over into the postseason. Judge has struck out seven times thus far in the ALDS, going hitless. The seventh strikeout brought some boos from the 47,535-strong audience, which was unfathomable a week ago.

He will be okay, Stanton assured. He will assist us in winning two out of three games, which is all we need to do.

Boone looked over his lineup card in the hopes that someone will make a major October breakthrough. In the sixth inning, the Yankees brought up Matt Carpenter to bat with two men on base. This was the veteran with the mustache’s first at-bat since breaking his left foot on August 8. Trevor Stephan, a former Yankee farmhand who Cleveland selected in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, was faced by Carpenter and struck out.

Boone remarked, “I wanted him to win the game. “Right there, that’s our chance. You can’t keep standing around. You’ll begin to wait interminably.

The Yankees barely put the ball in play against Cleveland’s bullpen; their lone baserunner who did not advance on a walk was Anthony Rizzo, who lofted a single off reliever Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning. Against James Karinchak, New York walked three times in the eighth inning to load the bases. Kyle Higashioka was then struck out on a lineout by Clase, ending a run of nine straight walks or strikeouts by the Yankees.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa remarked, “It was just a rough day all around. “We failed to land the massive hit we required.”

Since Raul Ibanez’s game-ending home run in the 12th inning of Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS against the Orioles, the Yankees have not experienced one of their 23 prior walk-off postseason victories in their illustrious history. On Friday, there was no new chapter to be written; instead, the Guardians advanced while utilizing mild touch.

José Ramirez hit a pop-fly double in front of left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera when Jameson Taillon was pitching in relief for the first time in his career after 143 starts. Cabrera attempted to field the ball with his sliding but failed. Josh Donaldson, the third baseman, mishandled a throw to second base, allowing Ramirez to advance. Oscar Gonzalez then scored the game-winning run with a hit to right field that blooped over the drawn-in infield.

Josh Naylor doubled over Harrison Bader’s head in center field as Cleveland increased its lead, serving as a reminder that no one in the Yankees’ dugout required.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, Donaldson added. “We anticipated a fight,” the speaker said.

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