Rizzo returns to Yankees 16 days after fracturing fingers, goes 1 for 3 as New York wins ALCS opener

$Rizzo returns to Yankees 16 days after fracturing fingers, goes 1 for 3 as New York wins ALCS opener$

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Rizzo returns to Yankees 16 days after fracturing fingers, goes 1 for 3 as New York wins ALCS opener

2024-10-15 12:55 Last Updated At：13:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Rizzo went 1 for 3 with a walk to help the New York Yankees beat Cleveland 5-2 in Monday night's American League Championship Series opener, just 16 days after fracturing a pair of fingers when he was hit by a pitch.

Rizzo batted eighth and played first base after missing the Division Series against Kansas City.

“Very happy with how today went, and now it’s just recovery mode until tomorrow,” he said. "It didn't really hurt."

Rizzo fractured the fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand when he was hit by Pittsburgh’s Ryan Borucki on Sept. 28.

“It’s just pain,” Rizzo said before the ALCS opener. “It’s temporary, and the 50,000 people in the stands and the adrenaline and what’s at stake is going to outweigh any pain I’ll be feeling.”

A three-time All-Star and a 2016 World Series champion with the Chicago Cubs, the 35-year-old hit .228 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 92 games during an injury-interrupted season. Rizzo missed 62 games with a fractured right forearm after colliding with Boston reliever Brennan Bernardino on June 16. He batted .380 (8 for 21) after returning from the injured list on Sept. 1.

Rizzo wouldn't say whether he'd be playing if this were the regular season.

“This is Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, so the hypothetical there isn’t there,” he said. “I don’t know what that answer would be.”

Rizzo hadn’t hit off live pitching, only machines. Yankees manager Aaron Boone replaced him with Oswaldo Cabrera for the ninth inning.

“I thought he was sharp, which was really good to see,” Boone said. “He was just kind of physically and emotionally spent there late in the game, and I kind of felt like — kind of just felt like I needed to get him out of there.”

Rizzo helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

“I’ve had opportunity throughout my career to play a good amount of postseason baseball, and this is what you play for,” he said. “The clock is only ticking on my age and getting older. You just never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to play for a pennant again, ever again. You can’t take any of this for granted.”

Rizzo had watched from the bench during the Division Series and given tips on positioning at first base to Jon Berti and Cabrera, who started two games each against the Royals.

“To be on the bench, it’s more stressful than playing,” Rizzo said. “It’s really (harder) to control your emotions on the bench than it is when you play.”

Right-hander Marcus Stroman also was added by the Yankees, who dropped first baseman Ben Rice and speedy outfielder Duke Ellis from their roster.

Ellis had one pinch-running appearance in the Division Series and Rice didn’t get into a game.

Cleveland added right-hander Pedro Avila, giving the Guardians 13 pitchers, and dropped outfielder Angel Martínez. Avila pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings against the Yankees.

Stroman was 10-9 with a 4.31 ERA in his first season with the Yankees, making 29 starts and one relief appearance. The 33-year-old slumped to 0-3 with an 8.80 ERA in four September appearances.

Sidelined by a strained left elbow flexor since Sept. 18, the 29-year-old Yankees left-hander threw his first bullpen Sunday. He is scheduled to throw another one Wednesday and, if he continues to progress, batting practice by the weekend. Boone said if “everything continues to move and we’re able to advance, (that) will put him in play.”

Avila, 27, had a 3.25 ERA in 74 2/3 innings over 50 relief appearances for Cleveland, striking out 73 and walking 30.

“He has the ability to throw a lot of pitches on back-to-back days and give us some length at times,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said.

Guardians relievers pitched 25 2/3 innings out of a possible 44 in the five-game Division Series against Detroit. In his only Division Series appearance, Martínez grounded out as a pinch hitter in Game 3.

Right-hander Ben Lively, Cleveland's winningest pitcher at 13-10, remains off the roster.

“Ben had been phenomenal for us all year, super consistent,” Vogt said. “It was one of those things that, when we got down to the last decision, it’s what felt right.”

This story makes a correction in the second paragraph to note that Rizzo was batting eighth, not seventh.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Soto, Stanton homers back Rodón as Yankees take advantage of wild Guardians to win ALCS opener 5-2

2024-10-15 12:59 Last Updated At：13:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto's home run punctured Cleveland pitching, which then went wild.

Soto put New York ahead in a three-run third inning, Carlos Rodón got his first postseason win and the Yankees beat the Guardians 5-2 on Monday night in an AL Championship Series opener that included Cleveland throwing five wild pitches and walking nine batters.

Giancarlo Stanton added his 13th career postseason homer for the Yankees, who are seeking a record 41st AL pennant and their first since winning the 2009 title.

“Getting the start-off win is big,” Stanton said. “It’s a message in its own.”

Cleveland became the second team to throw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason inning and tied a postseason record with five overall. Guardians pitchers walked six in a nine-batter span and nine overall.

“They don’t chase a whole lot,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “If I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better.”

New York batters have walked 36 times in five postseason games.

“That’s what they’re capable of. That’s in their DNA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We beat that over — we hammer it.”

Game 2 is at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Entering this year, teams taking the opener of a series with a 2-3-2 format have won 66 of 99 times.

Soto came in 7 for 11 with two homers against Cobb. Before a sellout crowd of 47,264 that included pop star Taylor Swift, Soto hit his first postseason homer for New York when he drove a high slider from Alex Cobb into the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center.

He made a circle sign toward the relievers with his hands as he rounded first.

“It’s only me and the bullpen.” Soto said, smiling. “We keep it to ourselves.”

Rodón rebounded from the Yankees’ only loss in the Division Series, limiting the Guardians to a pair of singles before Brayan Rocchio’s sixth-inning homer.

“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodón said. “I thought I executed that well tonight.”

Stanton's seventh-inning homer boosted the lead to 5-1. Steven Kwan cut the Guardians' deficit when he extended his postseason hitting streak to a team-record 11 games with an RBI single in the eighth off Clay Holmes.

Luke Weaver relieved with runners at the corners. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and retired José Ramírez on a groundout, and then followed a leadoff walk in the ninth with three straight strikeouts for his fourth save this postseason.

Making his first playoff appearance in 11 years, Cobb walked the bases loaded in the third and rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw a pair of run-scoring wild pitches.

Cantillo had four wild pitches overall, one shy of the record for a postseason game set by Rick Ankiel of St. Louis in a 2000 NL Division Series opener against Atlanta. The only other time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning was by Minnesota against Oakland's Tim Hudson and Ted Lilly in the 2002 AL Division Series.

“That performance was obviously the difference in the game, so that’s on me,” Cantillo said.

Cobb dropped in 0-2 in the playoffs, making just his fifth start in a year limited by injuries. He threw 36 of 65 pitches for strikes, getting only one swing and miss, and allowed three runs, five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.

Cobb, who had hip surgery last Oct. 31, was removed because of hip tightness and a back spasm.

“It’s kind of been there for a little bit but, obviously, I had the surgery and tendinitis kind of flares up every once in a while," Cobb said. "Sometimes the back will tighten up along with it.”

Rodón struck out nine and walked none, getting 25 misses among 53 swings, matching the fourth-most misses in a postseason game since pitch-tracking began in 2008. His pitches broke so much that catcher Austin Wells had to throw to first three times on strikeouts for the putouts.

“He was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions,” Boone said.

Still, New York knows it was only one game. The Yankees opened the 2019 ALCS with a win at Houston, then lost three in a row and were knocked out in six games.

“In our eyes, we haven’t done nothing yet,” Stanton said. “We’ve got to win three out of six, and we take that as three out of three."

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (flexor strain in pitching elbow) is to throw a second bullpen session Wednesday and is a possibility for the World Series roster, should the Yankees advance.

UP NEXT

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole makes his third postseason start on Tuesday after beating Kansas City in the Division Series clincher. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA this postseason. RHP Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians. He had a 2.08 ERA without a decision in a pair of Division Series starts against Detroit.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb