Yankees win Game 2, take 2-0 ALCS lead over Guardians as Aaron Judge hits first homer of playoffs

Throughout this postseason as Aaron Judge’s struggles mounted, Aaron Boone indicated it was just “a matter of time” before the centerfielder broke out.

That time was the seventh inning Tuesday night in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.

With the Yankees holding a two-run lead — much of that having to do with some slapdash defense by the Guardians — Judge hit his first homer of these playoffs, a towering two-run shot to give his team some needed breathing room in a 6-3 victory in front of 47,054 at the Stadium.

Game 3 is Thursday night at Cleveland’s Progressive Field and, based on the Guardians’ performance the first two games, the Yankees’ next game at the Stadium may well be either Game 1 or Game 3 of the World Series (depending on the winner of the Dodgers-Mets NLCS).

With the Yankees holding a 4-2 lead in the seventh — and suffering the ignominy the inning before of having not one but two runners picked off second base, though gifted a run by the second of Cleveland’s two errors in the same inning — Judge stepped to the plate against righty Hunter Gaddis. Gleyber Torres, who had three hits, was on first. Gaddis delivered a 1-and-1, 95-mph fastball that Judge, 2-for-17 to that point in the postseason, sent the other way, 414 feet into the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center. His 14th career playoff homer made it 6-2.

Judge was responsible in some way for four of the Yankees’ runs; he hit a sky-high pop-up in the first inning that Cleveland shortstop Brayan Rocchio butchered for an error that brought in Torres, who led off with a double. Judge’s sacrifice fly in a two-run second made it 3-0.

Gerrit Cole, coming off a dominant seven-inning outing in Game 4 of the Yankees’ ALDS-clinching victory over the Royals, dealt with traffic throughout against the Guardians’ scrappy lineup and was gone after 4 1⁄3 innings. After Clay Holmes allowed an inherited runner to score in what was a two-run Cleveland fifth, Cole’s line was: two runs, six hits, four walks and four strikeouts.

But the bullpen, which came in having allowed one earned runs in 18 2⁄3 innings this postseason, shut down Cleveland until the ninth. Tim Hill (1 2⁄3 innings) and Tommy Kahnle (1 1⁄3) combined for three shutout innings. Luke Weaver entered in the ninth with a 6-2 lead and gave up a solo homer to Jose Ramirez.

Torres, with six of the Yankees’ 27 walks in the first five playoff games, led off the bottom of the first and got ahead of Tanner Bibee 3-and-1 before roping a 94-mph fastball down the leftfield line for a double. Juan Soto drilled a single to right to put runners on the corners.

Judge popped one sky-high to short where Rocchio camped under the ball near the second-base bag, then flat dropped it. Torres scampered home on the error to make it 1-0. Bibee did well to keep it there, striking out Austin Wells, getting Giancarlo Stanton to foul out to right and striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr.

The Yankees added on in the second.

Anthony Volpe, who hit the ball hard throughout the four-game Division Series against the Royals but with not much to show for it, led off the second with a single up the middle. Anthony Rizzo, as he did in his first at-bat in Game 1, smoked a single to the outfield, putting runners at the corners.

Then Alex Verdugo slashed a 1-and-1 fastball down the leftfield line for an RBI double that made it 2-0. Torres popped to first and Soto, intentionally walked just two times all season — because of who hits behind him — was intentionally walked to load the bases for Judge. In came righty Cade Smith. Judge’s sacrifice fly to center, on a 1-and-2 pitch, made it 3-0.

Cole stranded two runners in the third and fourth innings but did not make it out of the fifth.

Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo started the inning with singles and Ramirez walked. Josh Naylor, with hits in his first two at-bats, hit a sacrifice fly that made it 3-1 and Manzardo took third. With Lane Thomas up, Ramirez stole second. Thomas walked to reload the bases and brought on Holmes to face Will Brennan. The rightfielder swung at a first-pitch, 91-mph sinker and bounced into a 3-6 force, which brought in Manzardo to make it 3-2. Holmes walked Andres Gimenez but struck out Austin Hedges swinging at a 98-mph sinker.

The Guardians went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Chisholm led off the sixth with a double off lefty Erik Sabrowski and Volpe walked. Chisholm inexplicably got picked off second and Rizzo hit a shot down the rightfield line that rightfielder Brennan mishandled, the error allowing Volpe to score from first to make it 4-2. Verdugo flied out and, after Pedro Avila came on, Rizzo somehow managed to get picked off second, the Yankees’ second unsightly baserunning blunder of the inning.

But, as they say, they don’t ask how, they ask how many and the Yankees are two games from the World Series.