CNN
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The New York Yankees continued to look like the American League’s best team with a 6-3 Game 2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians to take a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series (ALCS).

For a team that already seemed well-positioned to make an MLB-record 41st World Series, the Yankees got another positive sign when regular-season home run leader and AL MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge hit his first long ball of the 2024 postseason. win.

The Bronx Bombers had to like their chances of moving closer to their 28th MLB crown in Tuesday night’s game, with big pitcher Gerrit Cole in line to start. The Yankees offense gave Cole an early cushion with a run in the first inning and two more in the second, taking a quick 3-0 lead.

Cole was effective early, but as the pitch count increased, Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to the bullpen when his ace ran into trouble in the fifth inning. The 34-year-old right-hander left the game after allowing two runs in just 4.3 innings pitched as the Guardians cut New York’s lead to one.

However, the Yankees added an insurance run in the sixth, then Judge put the game out of reach with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. The 6-foot-4 star hit a high fire from Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis 400 feet to center field, stretching the score to 6-2 and putting the game away despite an extra run by Cleveland in the top of the ninth.

After the game, Judge told reporters that he wasn’t sure if the ball would immediately leave the wall on his home run.

“I was excited that we broke up,” Judge told reporters. “On these windy, cold nights you never know what that ball is going to do when you hit it right here in the middle. But the ghosts moved to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”

The Guardians were also hampered that night by mediocre defense (two costly Cleveland errors led to a pair of unearned runs for the Yankees that night) and a raucous Bronx crowd.

Judge credited the Yankees faithful for pushing the team forward.

“The energy of the fans, yeah, they were loud at first,” Judge said. “It was quiet for a while, but every time we score points, this place explodes.

“It’s something special, there’s nothing like it in baseball.”

The Guardians hope to change the momentum and give their fans something to cheer about when the ALCS moves to Cleveland for Game 3 on Thursday night.