The Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees get set for Game Two of their ALDS series on Thursday night in the Bronx. The Yankees took a 1-0 series lead on Tuesday night thanks to a strong performance from Gerrit Cole in a 4-1 win. In Game Two the pitching matchup will be Cleveland's ace Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88) taking on Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes (12-4, 2.44). First pitch is scheduled for 7:37pm EST.
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For one game at least, the Cleveland Guardians fell victim to the Yankees style of winning: power pitching and the long ball. Starter Cal Quantrill allowed just four hits in five innings of work but two of those hits left the yard and the Guardians fell 4-1 in game one. The Guardians were held to just six hits and were unable to play the type of small ball that has been their trademark this season. In fact, the Guardians did a number of things that were out of character: rookie Steven Kwan belted a solo home run to briefly tie the game, the usually error-free Guardians committed a throwing error and the team that struck out the least amount of times in baseball struck out nine times in the loss. Cleveland will need to return to their style of play in game two if they want to knot this series up at one game apiece.
Knew it was going to be a dogfight.#ForTheLand p ic.twitter.com/3t6hfUqdWq
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 12, 2022
The Guardians have the pitcher they want on the mound in a critical game as Shane Bieber gets the ball in game two. In the wildcard opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, Bieber was outstanding. He went 7.2 innings and allowed just three hits and struck out eight batters before turning it over to Emmanuel Clase to close the game out. In his last four outings, Bieber has gone 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Bieber has yet to face this Yankees lineup and has surprisingly faced them just three times in his career. The former Cy Young winner will not be intimidated by the aura of Yankee Stadium.