NEW YORK – Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the world, finally played the part in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Five postseason games gave way to one giant swing on Tuesday night, as Judge’s two-run home run capped a 6-3 win that gave the New York Yankees a 2-0 series lead against the Cleveland Guardians.

While the Yankees scored three early runs to take advantage of the sloppy play of the typically tidy Guardians, Judge’s home run — a 400-foot blast to center field from Cleveland reliever Hunter Gaddis in the seventh inning — gave the crowd of 47,054 a seat. Yankee Stadium energy. and reminded that the future AL MVP is more than capable of providing memorable October moments.

“On these windy, cold nights you never know what that ball’s going to do when you hit center here,” Judge said, “but the spirits moved there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”

The Yankees had won four of their first five playoff games with little production from their captain. Although Judge walked five times, he had recorded just two hits in 15 at-bats this postseason before Tuesday. Overnight, he tripled his previous RBI output, and a night that included three hits from Gleyber Torres and five hits from the bottom three in the lineup made up for a subpar performance from Gerrit Cole.

In a game that featured a pair of errors by Cleveland, two terrible baserunning errors in the same inning by New York and a combined 2-for-17 effort with runners in scoring position, the Yankees combined enough offensive errors and made throws in opportune fashion. time.

They scored in the first inning after shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped a towering pop-up from Judge that allowed Torres to score and added a pair of runs in the second off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, who lasted just 1.1 innings and allowed five hits. Cleveland firefighter Cade Smith inherited a bases-loaded jam in the second inning after manager Stephen Vogt intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases and face Judge, whose sacrifice fly extended New York’s lead to 3 -0.

Cole, the Yankees ace who posted a divisional series win against Kansas City in his last start, struggled with his control and allowed 10 baserunners in 4.1 innings. He left with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and reliever Clay Holmes allowed one run on a force out before striking out Austin Hedges to end the threat.

“We had traffic all night tonight,” Vogt said. “We do what we do. We get on base and make things happen. We just didn’t get a big hit tonight with runners in scoring position. We’re one hit away from taking the lead in that game. We It’s just one step to get back into it. That’s who we are. We just have to be ourselves.’

With the series heading to Cleveland for at least two and possibly three games, it’s not enough who the Guardians have been. New York scored another run in the sixth, when Anthony Rizzo – in his second game back after breaking two fingers on September 28 – doubled off shortstop Anthony Volpe. Both ended the game with a pair of hits, before No. 9 hitter Alex Verdugo, who drove in a run with a double.

“Our bottom of the order could be the top of our order,” Rizzo said. “Our top of the order is so powerful and so good. We know our role at the bottom. We just want to take it to the next man, take it to the next man, and that’s our mentality.”

Torres’ third hit of the night helped Judge in the seventh inning, when he ambushed a high 90-mph fastball from Gaddis. Only once this season has Gaddis allowed a home run on a high-of-the-zone fastball, but no hitter in the game is capable of doing as much damage as Judge, who finished the season hitting .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs.

“The preparation he does, who he is as a person, who he is as a teammate, it’s so easy to root for him,” Rizzo said. “In these games it really doesn’t matter who it is, how excited we are for everyone, but when Aaron does things it’s extra special because he’s such a special person.”

Judge’s postseason problems were minimized because his teammates had played so well in the previous five games. He has never deviated from his approach, which sounds simple and cliché – take things step by step – but has led to historic results. Although his career postseason numbers pale in comparison to those of the regular season, Judge continued to ignore all the naysayers.

“I’ve been booed here a lot,” he said. “A lot of legends have played here and been booed. It’s just part of it. You can’t concentrate on that. You have to go out there. They want to see you win. They want to see you. You just have to concentrate on what you can do.” What I can control is what I do in the penalty area and what I do on the field.”

What he did on the field Tuesday was much more in line with what Judge expects of himself. And when closer Luke Weaver ended the game after allowing a ninth-inning home run to Jose Ramirez, it reinforced that perhaps these Yankees were cut from a different cloth than those of recent years.

“This is a really good baseball team we’re playing against,” Vogt said. “We’ve known that all year. We know we have our work cut out for us, but that’s who we are. We thrive on this and we’ll be ready to go.”