Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge stunned Cleveland with early homers, and the New York Yankees beat the Guardians 5-1 Tuesday in the decisive Game 5 of their American League Division Series to set up another rematch with Houston for the pennant.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone won his bet by starting Nestor Cortes on three days’ rest over Jameson Taillon, making the trade after Monday night’s rain caused a postponement.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona stayed the course with Aaron Civale instead of trading 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on a short break. Civale struggled to throw strikes, and the Guardians never recovered from Stanton’s three-run homer after just 21 pitches.
Cortes dominated with three-hit ball for five innings to earn the victory, Jonathan Loaisiga, Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta finished with five hits without allowing scores.
The crowd of 48,178 cheered the Yankees when Myles Straw grounded out for the final out. Second baseman Gleyber Torres stepped on the bag to finish it off, then imitated rocking a baby with the ball — a hit on Guardians slugger Josh Naylor, who made the move to circle the bases after a Gerrit Cole homer in the Game. Four.
Taillon will start Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday night in Houston, going with Justin Verlander. The AL matchup features the top two regular season teams in the league with the 106-win Astros and the 99-win Yankees, a contrast to the NL championship between wild cards San Diego and Philadelphia.
