The New York Yankees lineup is deep and dangerous, and the Cleveland Guardians are finding that out in a painful way.
Guardians starter Shane Bieber struck out the likely American League MVP Aaron Judge in the first inning, then had Anthony Rizzo line out to left field.
Gleyber Torres proceeded to single to right field, setting up an at-bat with men on base for slugger Giancarlo Stanton.
Now, Stanton had a horrific second half, but he did hit 31 home runs and remains one of the single most productive playoff performers currently in activity.
Bieber fell behind in the count 3-1 and then saw a low slider from Bieber that looked like ball four.
The home plate umpire didn’t think so, as he awarded the strike to Bieber.
Cleveland Would Have Been Better Off Walking Stanton
With the full count, Bieber tried to sneak a fastball past Stanton.
Giancarlo starts Game 2 with a BANG for the Yanks 💥 @BRWalkoff
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/szemn22kMm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 14, 2022
That proved to be a big mistake, as the talented slugger sent it to the right field bleachers for a home run: the Yankees, that way, earned a 2-0 lead in the first inning against one of the best pitchers in the game.
At the moment of writing this article, Yankees starter Nestor Cortes had thrown three straight scoreless innings and looked in command of the situation, forcing Bieber to be perfect from now on and the Guards’ offense to start hitting.
Stanton had a painful Achilles injury in the second half,: he slumped so bad after the break that his average fell to .211.
However, his slugging percentage was a healthy .462 and he sent 31 balls over the fence.
Pitchers have to be very, very careful with him.
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