The Cleveland Guardians fell down 0-2 to the New York Yankees in the ALCS on Tuesday night after a tough 6-3 battle going up against Gerrit Cole, and the team now heads back home for three games at Progressive Field to try to get this series back on track.
The Guardians have had some issues on defense so far and the bats have been mostly ice-cold, but one analyst recently revealed the decision that surprised him the most in Game 2.
On MLB Tonight, Harold Reynolds discussed Cleveland’s decision to intentionally walk Juan Soto in the second inning to face Aaron Judge with the bases loaded, saying “Well I know he’s trying to get a double play ball…I think the bigger surprise was (Tanner) Bibee was taken out of the game. I know you’re already down 1-0 in the series, your bullpen is your strength, you already used them the day before, so to me, that was the biggest thing that shocked me even more so than the walk.”
#MLBTonight discusses Cleveland's decision to intentionally walk Juan Soto, loading the bases for Aaron Judge ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/2pWsBs3Vn3
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 16, 2024
Judge hit a sacrifice fly after the walk to bring in a run and Bibee had not been getting swings and misses prior to being pulled, which is not a great recipe when facing the league’s biggest power hitter.
After the sac fly, Cade Smith struck out Austin Wells to limit the damage to just one run, so the decision worked out in the long run.
Cleveland has leaned on its bullpen all year, but if it’s going to have a chance in this series, the starting rotation and the bats have to start pulling their weight.
NEXT: Guardians Lose Again And Will Return To Cleveland In A 0-2 ALCS Hole
