Why the Astros, not the Yankees, have more pressure to win this postseason
Our MLB insider Steve Gardner explains why this year, more than any in the past, has to be the year the Astros put it all together and win the Commissioners trophy.
USA TODAY
NEW YORK – Runs were going to be hard to come by, but you knew that about a Cleveland Guardians lineup that hardly lit up scoreboards across the American League this year.
And then, you’re reminded these current Yankees aren’t exactly Murderers Row.
After Giancarlo Stanton’s first inning fly ball carried over the right field wall for a two-run homer at Yankee Stadium, manager Aaron Boone’s lineup went quiet on Friday afternoon.
Aaron Judge struck out four times in going 0-for-5 and the Guardians scored twice in the 10th to earn a 4-2 victory in Game 2 before 47,535 groaning fans.
With the best-of-five AL Division Series even at one game apiece and zero off dates remaining, the Guardians will host Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
And if there’s a Game 5 in the Bronx on Monday, maybe Jameson Taillon starts that winner-take-all game for the Yanks.
Summoned in Friday’s 10th inning, Taillon gave up two bloop hits and watched Josh Donaldson commit a throwing error before Josh Naylor’s RBI long double plated the inning’s second run.
And the class of the AL’s closers, Emmanuel Clase, nailed down the final seven outs, starting with extricating the Guardians out of a bases-loaded spot to end the eighth.
The Yankees?
Do they ever miss DJ LeMahieu atop the order, and the balance he provides when healthy.
They’re compelled to bat Judge leadoff and they’re starting a pure rookie in left field because Andrew Benintendi is nursing a hand injury.
They’ve got the wildly inconsistent Josh Donaldson, in a down year offensively, batting No. 5, with Matt Carpenter only available as a pinch-hitter, coming back from a fractured foot.
And the bottom of the order doesn’t have a presence like Andres Gimenez, Cleveland’s No. 7 hitter Tuesday.
In capturing the Wild Card Series, Cleveland scored three runs in two games over 24 innings against Tampa Bay.
The Guardians had one run over the first 12 innings of this best-of-five AL Division Series, and they scored twice against Nestor Cortes, who was not quite his best Tuesday.
Gimenez’s soft, two-out RBI single in the fourth was followed in the fifth by Amed Rosario’s game-tying homer to center, a ball that just kept carrying out.
Stanton, the Yankees’ dugout and a sold out Yankee Stadium crowd had judged Cleveland starter Shane Bieber’s 3-1 cutter as low, for ball four.
But that’s not how plate umpire Jeremie Rehak saw it.
Stanton was on his way to first base when called it a strike, evening the count with Gleyber Torres (single) on first base in Friday afternoon’s bottom of the first.
Sent back to the plate, Stanton took advantage of the next pitch.
The Yankees’ designated hitter launched a 3-2 fastball over the right field wall, giving the Yanks an early 2-0 lead over the Guardians in Game 2 of the AL Division Series.
It was Stanton’s 10th home run in 20 career postseason games and his ninth over his last 12 postseason games.
Stanton belted homers in five straight games in 2020, from the AL Wild Card Series opener through Game 3 of the ALDS, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
In 110 games this year (398 at-bats), Stanton hit 31 homers, finishing third on the club behind Anthony Rizzo’s 32 and Judge’s franchise and AL single season record 62 home runs.
