The Yankees struck first right away in game two, with Giancarlo Stanton blasting a two-run home run in the first inning, immediately raising hope of a potential 2-0 series lead heading to Cleveland.
Instead, the Yankee offense fell into hibernation for the next nine innings, and the Guardians evened the series with a 4-2 win in 10 innings on Friday afternoon.
“It's one of those days for both sides, where you start getting into the shadows and it gets to be a tough day to hit,” Aaron Boone said. “You’re going up against Bieber, he’s gonna be tough. We got into some deep counts…but I thought Stephan really came in and executed. Karinchak and Clase, we made them work, but weren’t able to break through.
“For most of the day, it was one of those days where it’s a little bit tough for the hitters seeing up there.”
As those shadows crept over home plate, the Guardians were able to scratch across four unanswered runs, helped by two bloopers in the tenth and a pair of defensive miscues by Harrison Bader and Josh Donaldson. The Yankees had their share of chances to avoid extra innings altogether, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
