The best team in the American League during the regular season looked very much the part in Game 1 of the ALDS on Thursday night.
The Indians jumped out a 1-0 series lead over the Yankees with a dominating 4-0 win at Progressive Field. The game did not feel as close as the score indicates. Cleveland took a quick 1-0 lead in the second inning and never looked back.
Bauer set a new single-game playoff best with eight strikeouts, and allowed just two hits and one walk over 6.2 innings of work on the way to his first playoff win. Bauer registered three of his strikeouts against Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who belted 52 home runs during the regular season.
With designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion on with a lead-off walk, Bruce belted a 94-mile-per-hour fastball from Gray into the seats in right field for a two-run home run, which gave the Indians a 3-0 lead over The Bronx Bombers.
Behind a 6 2⁄3-inning outing that included only two hits and no runs, Cleveland took the first game of the ALDS from New York by a score of 4-0. Between their starting pitcher’s confident outing and Jay Bruce’s three RBI, the Indians didn’t have to worry much throughout the game that things wouldn’t go their way. With Kluber set to be on the mound for Friday’s Game 2, New York is going to have to figure out Cleveland’s pitching sooner rather than later if it hopes to even things up.
