'Humbling game': ALCS Game 2 a study in chaos

NEW YORK -- The Yankees played with their food in Game 2 of the ALCS, begging the Guardians to bite back as they traded as many blunders as they did blows.

Tuesday's 6-3 win sends the Yankees to Cleveland with a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, but until Aaron Judge broke the game wide open with his first home run of the postseason, Game 2 swung between states of chaos that crept into every corner of the night.

In so many ways, this was the type of game the Guardians should have stolen before Judge had his moment. This is a club built to take a mile from an inch, capitalizing on their opponents’ mistakes then smothering the game with their incredible bullpen. Instead, it’s a crippling missed opportunity for the Guardians as the Yankees exhale.

“It's a tough game. It's a humbling game,” said Judge. “You can go out there and be 4-for-4 one day and the next day you're 0-for-4. I've been on the losing side of a lot of postseason games, and those are tough. I've been on the other side of some good wins. All that matters is we went out there and took care of business, and we've got to move on to the next one. We won this game, but it's over with.”

Something strange was in the air from the very first inning when Judge opened the scoring the way he usually does … by hitting the ball a mile. This mile was straight up in the air, though, a pop fly that hung up over the Guardians’ infield for 7.1 seconds. While Gleyber Torres slowly walked back to third base, shortstop Brayan Rocchio drifted, drifted and drifted with the ball.

Doink. It ricocheted off Rocchio’s glove, allowing a surprised Torres to scamper home as the crowd erupted. That foreshadowed a wild night, so much looser and more unpredictable than the clean-cut Game 1.

“I think it was what it was,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “I think the run would have scored on the next play with the sac fly. It's not ideal obviously to have that happen. Tanner [Bibee] did a great job pitching out of that first, giving up the one run. That ball was up in the air for quite a while with the wind, tough play. Those things happen.”

After walking Juan Soto to bring Judge up with the bases loaded in the very next inning -- which takes some guts -- Vogt lifted a struggling Bibee after just 39 pitches for Cade Smith, an early, aggressive play in high leverage. It worked perfectly for the Guardians, but when it was their turn with the bases loaded, they were missing that one big blow.

Cleveland’s opening came when Gerrit Cole lost his command, leading to another aggressive move from Vogt in the fourth when he pinch-hit David Fry for Bo Naylor with the bases loaded. It didn’t work, and after Austin Hedges took over behind the plate, it was that same spot in the lineup that came up the very next inning with the bases loaded yet again. Hedges struck out swinging to end the inning, the Guardians’ last big chance to break the game open.

“We wanted to take our shot right there,” Vogt explained. “We felt that was our biggest opportunity at that point. You don't know when you're going to get three guys on against somebody like Gerrit Cole. It's who we are. We take chances.”

Things weren’t any simpler on the Yankees’ side. It was Clay Holmes who struck out Hedges to keep the Yankees ahead -- an interesting move from manager Aaron Boone to bring Holmes in against lefties, which worked -- but the Yankees refused to pull away.

After Jazz Chisholm Jr. was picked off to snuff out his leadoff double in the sixth, Anthony Rizzo got caught in a clumsy rundown to end the inning. Two free outs that could have been runs.

“It's about getting wins. We're in the postseason,” said Boone. “I mean, those things are going to happen. We're going for a double steal. If he gets thrown out at third, you don't say anything, but he got picked off doing it. It's going to happen. We're not going to not be aggressive in certain situations.”

When Judge finally put the game to bed with his blast in the seventh, that was the captain saying that he’d seen enough of this. Now, he has his Yankees two wins away from their first World Series appearance in 15 years.