NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge sent the ball soaring toward Monument Park and Gleyber Torres tagged up at first base.
“That was disrespect out of Gleyber, man,” Judge said with a smile. “He’s seen me hit 58 of those things this year.”
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New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, left, celebrates with Luke Weaver after Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 6-3. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 6-3. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Will Brennan catches a fly ball by New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton during the first inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio misses catching a pop fly by New York Yankees' Aaron Judge during the first inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. Rocchio was charged with an error. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) walks toward the dugout after being pulled during the second inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee leaves the game during the second inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Cleveland Guardians' José Ramírez reacts after hitting a fly out against the New York Yankees during the third inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
New York Yankees' Anthony Rizzo celebrates after hitting a RBI double against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, center, hits a two-run home run off Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Hunter Gaddis (33) during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez )
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates with Austin Wells after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Judge's first home run of the postseason broke the tension, a two-run, seventh-inning drive that helped boost the New York Yankees over the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 AL Championship Series lead.
“I'm a little disappointed in Gleyber for not knowing Judge’s pop there,” Anthony Rizzo said. “We were ribbing him a lot about that. It’s a big swing for Judgey.”
Judge, who entered with just one RBI in the playoffs, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run second that put the Yankees ahead 3-0 — after Cleveland intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases.
“You want to try to get a double-play ball,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “You want to try to get two outs with one pitch.”
Judge, who led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs, was understanding.
“I would probably walk him, too,” he said.
With New York leading 4-2 lead in the seventh, the likely AL MVP drove a fastball at the letters from Hunter Gaddis 414 feet to center for his 14th career postseason home run.
“It was a big swing to kind of give us that cushion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The bench was pretty pumped when that happened.”
Judge also was good-natured about Torres' decision to tag up.
“You never know on these windy, chilly nights what that ball is going to do when you hit it to center here,” he said. “but the ghosts were pulling out there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”
In a matchup of aces who had off nights, Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee got just just four outs in the shortest start of his professional career and an erratic Gerrit Cole was chased after four walks in 4 1/3 innings.
“Just got to do better, got to do better,” the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner said.
Winner Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
José Ramírez hit a ninth-inning home run off Luke Weaver, just the second earned run New York’s bullpen has allowed over 23 1/3 innings in six postseason games.
After a day off, Game 3 is Thursday in Cleveland. The Yankees lead the ALCS 2-0 for the first time since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.
Torres reached base leading off for the fifth time in the playoffs and had three hits. Rizzo had two hits and is 3 for 7 in two games since returning from a pair of fractured fingers that caused him to miss the Division Series.
Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan committed run-scoring errors for the Guardians. Rocchio dropped Judge’s first-inning popup, allowing Torres to score.
“No excuse, I need to make that play,” Rocchio said through an interpreter. “I thought I was under the ball and last minute I was leaning towards second base.”
After Cleveland closed to 3-2, Brennan bobbled the ball when he tried for a barehand pickup of Rizzo’s sixth-inning double that caromed off the low wall down the right-field line. Anthony Volpe, who had been on first, sprinted home.
Steven Kwan extended his Cleveland-record postseason hitting streak to 12 games.
Alex Verdugo had a opposite-field RBI double in the two-run second that glanced off a shoulder of left field umpire Vic Carapazza and went down the line.
Cole escaped two-on, one-out trouble in the third and then a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth when pinch-hitter David Fry fouled out and Rocchio took a knuckle curve at the top of the strike zone for a called third strike in a nine-pitch at-bat.
Cleveland cut its deficit to 3-2 in the fifth when Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly and, after Holmes relieved with the bases loaded, Will Brennan grounded into a run-scoring forceout. Holmes struck out Austin Hedges on low sinker to leave the bases loaded.
“They kind of made a little push there and we were able to stop it,” Holmes said.
Cleveland went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners. The Guardians are 1 for 11 RISP in the series.
“We’re one swing of the bat away from taking the lead in that game,” Vogt said. “We’re one swing of the bat from being right back in it. That is who we are. We don’t quit. We just need to keep being us.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb was removed from the roster with a lower back strain sustained in the opener and replaced by RHP Ben Lively.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt starts Thursday at Cleveland. He allowed two runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings in Division Series Game 3, wasting a 2-0 lead before New York won 3-2. He faced the Guardians once this year, pitching five scoreless innings before allowing a pair of runs — one unearned — in the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory. Cleveland wouldn't commit to a starter but LHP Matthew Boyd is a possibility. Bibee's quick exit could allow him to start on short rest rather than in a Game 6.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, left, celebrates with Luke Weaver after Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 6-3. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees' Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. The Yankees won 6-3. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Will Brennan catches a fly ball by New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton during the first inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Cleveland Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio misses catching a pop fly by New York Yankees' Aaron Judge during the first inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. Rocchio was charged with an error. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) walks toward the dugout after being pulled during the second inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee leaves the game during the second inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Cleveland Guardians' José Ramírez reacts after hitting a fly out against the New York Yankees during the third inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
New York Yankees' Anthony Rizzo celebrates after hitting a RBI double against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, center, hits a two-run home run off Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Hunter Gaddis (33) during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez )
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates with Austin Wells after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the seventh inning in Game 2 of the baseball AL Championship Series Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.
Authorities arrested a 50-year-old man at the site of the attack in Magdeburg on Friday evening and took him into custody for questioning. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg. officials said.
The state governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters that the death toll rose to five from a previous figure of two and that more than 200 people in total were injured.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 of them "are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.” Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Haseloff said Friday that authorities believed the man acted alone.
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Germany has suffered a string of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening. Faeser ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings across the country.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers swarmed around the suspect and took him into custody.
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is located in a mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and thought at first they were fireworks. She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Shaking as she described the horror of what she witnessed, she recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The number of injured people was overwhelming.
“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold," she said.
The market itself was still cordoned off Saturday with red-and-white tape and police vans every 50 meters (yards). Police with machine pistols guarded every entry to the market. Some thermal security blankets still lay on the street.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Aboubakr reported from Cairo and Gera from Warsaw, Poland. Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.
A blanket lies on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre, speaks at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Citizens pay tribute and cry for deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
A policeman, right, stands on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)
Two firefighters walk through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police officers and police emergency vehicles are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A barrier tape and police vehicles are seen in front of the entrance to the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People mourn in front of St. John's Church for the victims of Friday's attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Police tape cordons-off a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer stands guard at at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers patrol a cordoned-off area at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
