Yankees hit 2 home runs, draw 7 walks in ALCS Game 1

NEW YORK — That wasn’t just a win, it was a Yankees win.

No team combines patience and power like the Yankees, who leaned back into that identity in their 5-2 win Monday night over the Guardians to take a 1-0 lead in the ALCS at Yankee Stadium.

At this point in the postseason, everyone’s good. Style matters, though, and the advantages lie in finding a way to play your style of game, not the other team’s. For the Guardians, that means a tight game they can take over on the bases, then shut down with their dominant bullpen. For the Yankees, that means working walks and launching home runs. The Guardians blinked first, which turned Game 1 into Yankees baseball.

Juan Soto’s first postseason home run with the Yankees opened the scoring in the third, a 401-foot shot to right field that we all should have seen coming. Soto came into the ALCS with the book on Guardians’ starter Alex Cobb in his hand, having gone 7-for-11 in his career against Cobb with two home runs and a double. Asked for the secret to his success just hours before first pitch, Soto broke into his bright smile.

“I can’t tell you that right now. I can tell you after the game, but not right now,” Soto said. “I bet you he’s listening.”

After his time with the Nationals and Padres, Soto became the youngest player in MLB history to homer with three different teams in the postseason (25 years, 355 days), passing Manny Machado (28 years, 87 days). Soto was welcomed back to right field with “re-sign Soto” chants from the bleacher creatures in right, and when he turned to acknowledge them, Yankees fans burst into another roar.

Then came the other half of the Yankees’ identity: the walks.

Following Soto’s blast, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe walked to load the bases with one out, which is when the Yankees stepped back and let Cleveland do some of the work for them. Guardians reliever Joey Cantillo uncorked four wild pitches, two of which came with the bases loaded around Anthony Rizzo, who kept the line moving with — you guessed it — another walk.

“Big time. They are huge,” Stanton said. “We can’t emphasize that enough. Not forcing things. So in the biggest moments, you want to maybe try to do too much, expand a little too much, and we’ve done a great job so far of taking what they give us, and we’ll continue to do that.”

This formula isn’t new for the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers led all of baseball with 237 home runs in the regular season, but they were so effective because of the 672 walks that led the league comfortably. Stanton’s 439-foot moonshot in the seventh was a solo shot, just like Soto’s, but more often than not, these Yankees sluggers bring some friends home with them.

“We talked about this before the series started, these guys work the count,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “They don’t chase a whole lot. I think, if I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better, and we didn’t tonight. They made us work.”

The Yankees’ incredible walk rate has carried right over into the postseason, with 34 in just five games. Only the Mets have more (38), but they’ve played four more games than the Yankees. These New Yorkers love to walk everywhere, don’t they?

Whether it comes via the big blast, a string of walks or those two things dancing together, the Yankees need to get to the Guardians early … or at least first. That’s true against any opponent, but especially against a bullpen that boasts Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin, Cade Smith and the Guardians’ great closer, Emmanuel Clase.

Chasing early offense can backfire, though. At their best, the Yankees find the balance between this patience and power, just like they did Monday.

“This team trusts each other a lot,” said Rizzo. “No one needs to be the guy. There’s a lot of guys here who have done special things in this game. We just pass it on to the next guy. Up and down our lineup, it doesn’t matter who’s up, we believe in them. That’s our mentality. It shows in how close we are and the trust we have.”

The Yankees have landed the first punch, but a best-of-seven series is all about how you counter and adjust on the fly. Now, it’s the Guardians’ turn to force a game into their own style, but the Yankees already found their blueprint.