For the fourth time in the postseason, Aaron Judge came up to bat with both Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto on base in an opportunity for a big moment.
This time proved to be by far the most memorable thanks to a Guardians infield meltdown.
Judge hit a mile-high popup just behind second base for what seemed to be a sure out with runners at the corners, but instead, Cleveland shortstop Brayan Rocchio lost a battle with the wind and dropped the routine fly ball, allowing Torres to score and give the Yanks an immediate 1-0 lead in game two.
The dropped ball brought back shades of Luis Castillo, who infamously dropped a routine popup by Alex Rodriguez back in 2009 with the Mets up one, leading to an improbable walk-off for the Yanks.
The pop fly dropped very close to where Castillo’s blunder occurred 15 years prior, only this time, it was on the playoff stage, as Cleveland’s uncharacteristic defensive blunders continued over from game one, when Joey Cantillo threw four wild pitches and allowed two runs to score.
John Sterling mentioned the Luis Castillo reference on the WFAN broadcast, as did countless baseball fans on social media while reacting to the blunder.
The Yanks only managed one run in the inning, but it was certainly a memorable one, at least for Yankee fans.