Aaron Judge of the Yankees reacts to the daring tactic of Juan Soto of the Guardians

The New York Yankees have taken a 2-0 lead in their ALCS series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, in part because Aaron Judge finally hit his first home run of the postseason. The slugger’s two-run homer also capped a 6-3 victory that pushed the Yankees to within two games of the World Series. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge also reacted to the Guardians’ bold Game 2 tactic of walking Juan Soto to load the bases before his sacrifice bunt put the Yankees up 3-0.

“You want to try to get a double play ball. You want to try to get two outs on one pitch,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, via an Associated Press report.

When he heard this comment, the judge put himself in his opponent’s shoes.

“I’d probably ride him too,” he said. On the season, Judge led MLB with 58 home runs and 144 RBI.

ALCS Game 2: Yankees rout. Guardians, the Yankees lead the series 2-0

Aaron Judge’s bats have gone cold throughout the postseason, but that didn’t stop the Yankees from advancing to the ALCS, even taking a 2-0 lead over the Rangers after Game 2. Fortunately , Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton have introduced themselves like this. away, while Luke Weaver made MLB history in his Game 1 of the ALCS.

Still, the team knows it has to play better if it wants to win it all this year, and first baseman Anthony Rizzo admitted as much. For his part, Rizzo had a strong performance in Game 2, giving the team a pair of hits shortly after recovering from broken fingers.

“We are not satisfied. We know the Guardians are a very, very good ball club, and being two games up means nothing to us,” he said, via a report by Greg Joyce for the New York Post.

Noting they’ll play the next three games (if necessary) in Cleveland, he kept his focus on what’s next. Rizzo had missed the ALDS due to his injury.

“We’ve got to get into (Cleveland), it’s going to be hostile and we’re going to take care of business,” he added.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge’s 14th career home run came off a Hunter Gaddis fastball in the seventh inning, extending the Yankees’ lead to 4-2.

“That was a great swing to give us that cushion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the probable AL MVP’s homer. “The bank was pretty pumped when this happened.”

looking ahead

Both teams have a day off before heading to Cleveland for Game 3. It’s also the first time the Yankees have held a 2-0 series lead in the ALCS since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.

In addition, the Yankees also won their 27th World Series championship that year. Can history rhyme for the Yankees, led by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, or can the Guardians write another chapter?