With home runs by Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge and great pitching by Néstor Cortés, the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-1 in the decisive fifth game of their Division Series, on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, to advance to the Series of the American League Championship against the Houston Astros.
For the third time in the last six years, the Astros and Yankees will collide for a ticket to the World Series. The Texans won in 2017 and 2019. The grand finale of the young circuit will begin on Wednesday at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Stanton hit a three-run homer off starter Aaron Civale in the first inning and Judge added a solo shot off reliever Sam Hentges in the second. Both hits by the New York Giants came out in right field. The one from Stanton found second baseman Gleyber Torres and first baseman Anthony Rizzo on the trails.
Stanton’s 11th playoff home run was also the second he hits in the first inning in the series against Cleveland to become the first New York player to hit multiple first-inning homers in the same playoff series.
Judge, who set an American League record with 62 home runs in the regular season, now has four homers in deciding playoff games, an all-time mark for major leaguers. Stanton is second, with three.
Rizzo drove in Torres with a fifth-inning single to give New York its fifth run of the game. Third baseman José Ramírez went 1-for-3 and drove in the Guardians’ only run. The Yankees sold 48,178 tickets for the game.
Civale (0-1), who hadn’t pitched since Oct. 5, retired just one batter and threw 26 pitches. The right-hander is the eighth starting pitcher not to get more than one out in a postseason game and the first since the Atlanta Braves’ Mike Foltynewicz in the 2019 Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Pitching on three days’ rest, the lefty Cortés pitched five innings of one run. The Cuban allowed three hits, gave away a walk and struck out two batters to conclude the series with 10 innings of two runs, the continuation of a dream year.
Cortes, who entered 2022 7-5 in 172 career innings, won 12 games and led New York starters in ERA (2.44) in the regular series. Including the postseason, he has allowed two or fewer runs in 23 of 30 starts.
At Yankee Stadium, Cortes has a 2.03 ERA. His next outing will be against the Astros, at home, in the Bombers’ next stay at The Bronx Cathedral.
Information of: espndeportes.espn.com
Photo credits: AP
