Yankees Take 2-0 Lead in ALCS

In dominant fashion the Yankees have taken the first two games of the ALCS against Cleveland after Games 1 and 2 in the Bronx.

Game 1 saw Carlos Rodon take the mound, following a disappointing start in the previous series, looking to set the table in game one to help the yankees win their first ALCS in 15 years. Rodon started hot, retiring 9 of Cleveland's first 11 batters, in the first three innings, giving the Yankees the opportunity to take the lead first, which they would do in the bottom of the 3rd.

Leading off the bottom of the 3rd inning, Juan Soto would send a 400 foot homer, into the Yankees bullpen to take a 1-0 lead. Following this Cleveland Starting pitcher, Alex Cobb would walk Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jazz Chisholm, before being pulled out of the game, with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Cleveland would bring in left handed pitcher Joey Cantillo to face Anthony Rizzo, when on a 2-0 pitch Cantillo spiked a pitch in the dirt that would get away from Cleveland catcher, Bo Naylor an allow Judge to score, and then would eventually repeat the same mistake a few pitches later allowing Stanton to score as well, making it a 3-0 ball game at the end of the 3rd inning.

In the 4th inning Rodon would continue his dominance, sending Cleveland down 1-2-3 yet again, while in the bottom of the 4th an Aaron Judge Sac-Fly would plate Gleyber Torres to make it a 4-0 game.

After both teams went down 1-2-3 in the 5th inning, Rodon went back out to start the 6th and let up a homerun to the first batter of the inning, Brayan Rocchio, turning over the Cleveland lineup. Rodon would proceed to force Kwan to ground out, Fry to flyout, and MVP candidate Jose Ramirez to flyout, avoiding what could have easily been a Cleveland rally.

In the 7th inning, Clay Holmes would come in for relief, ending Rodon's excellent night, and proceeded to retire the middle of the Cleveland lineup in order. In the bottom of the inning Giancarlo Stanton would once again deliver a monster Postseason home run, sending a ball 440 feet to left center field, extending the lead to 5-1 after 7.

The top of the eighth inning would be the most important half inning of the game, as after Tim Hill came in to pitch for Clay Holmes, he would allow back to back one out singles, as well as committing an obstruction violation on a runner setting Cleveland up with runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out. Hill would remain in the game for the next batter, Steven Kwan who would then hit an RBI single to make it a 5-2 game with the tying run batting. Yankees manager Aaron Boone would then make the decision to go to his closer, Luke Weaver for a rare 5 out save.

Weaver would come on and do exactly what was expected of him as the Yankees closer, strikeout pinch-hitter Will Brennan, and then force Power Hitter Jose Ramirez to ground out (rather than hitting a game tying Home Run).

After an Uneventful bottom of the 8th, Weaver would come back out once more to finish out the game. After an initial walk to the leadoff hitter, Weaver would come back and strikeout the next 3 batters to win and take a 1-0 Lead in the ALCS

On Tuesday night, in game 2 Yankees Ace Gerrit Cole took the mound where he would retire 6 of the first 7 Cleveland batters, while in the bottom of the first the Yankees led off the game with back to back singles by Torres and Soto to set Aaron Judge up with a 1st and 3rd and situation with nobody out. Judge's postseason woes would continue or so as it seemed, as Judge hit a skyscraping infield fly that was missed by Guardians shortstop Rocchio, giving Judge an RBI and the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

In the 2nd inning the Yankees would once again hit around Cleveland pitcher Tanner Bibee and after a Verdugo RBI double, and a Soto walk, Cleveland Manager Stephen Vogt would once again have to make an early call to the bullpen. The move however wouldn't do much as the Yankees would score again on an Aaron Judge SAC-Fly making it a 3-0 game at the end of the 2nd.

In the 3rd inning Gerrit Cole would begin to show signs of weakness as he allowed 2 baserunners on in the 3rd, giving Cleveland a 2 men on and 1 out opportunity, that Cole worked his way out of, as well as a bases loaded 1 out situation in the 4th.

As the Yankee bats went cold Gerrit Cole still struggled as in the top of the 5th he once allowed traffic on the basepaths, loading the bases with no outs, forcing Aaron Boone to go to Clay Holmes out of the bullpen after cole let up a SAC-Fly and another walk.

The Yankees worries weren't completely cleared once Holmes came in however, as a fielders choice scored another Cleveland run, along with a walk to Andres Gimenez to move the tying run to 3rd base with 2 outs. However, Holmes would buckle down and strikeout Austin Hedges to keep the a 3-2 lead.

After both teams would did little offensively in the bottom of the 5th and top of the 6th, the Yankees would create some action in the 6th with a Jazz Chisholm lead off double. After a Volpe walk the Yankees seemed poised to have a big inning until Chisholm got picked off at 2nd base during a baserunning blunder. Just a few pitches later, Anthony Rizzo would hit a huge RBI double, scoring Volpe from first, to extend the lead to 4-2. Later in the inning Rizzo would also make the exact same mistake that Chisholm made, ending the inning and ruining the yankees opportunity at putting up a crooked number.

In the bottom of the 7th Aaron Judge would hit a 2 run homer, showing signs that he could break out of this slump very soon, and extending the lead to 6-2.

After little action ove the next few innings, Luke Weaver would once again come out in the 9th (a non-save situation) and would let up a solo homerun to Jose Ramirez, making it a 6-3 game. After the Homer Weaver would return to his previous form and retire the side to give the Yankees their first 2-0 lead in the ALCS since 2009.

The Yankees head to Cleveland on Thursday where games 3,4,5 will be played.