The Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees meet in game two of the ALDS from Yankee Stadium on Thursday.
The Cleveland Guardians will look to rebound and even up the series at one win apiece after losing game one by a final count of 4-1 last time out. Steven Kwan went 2 for 4 with a solo home run to produce the lone scoring for the Guardians in the loss. Jose Ramirez went 2 for 3 with a double and Andres Gimenez added a double as well. Myles Straw chipped in a base hit of his own as the Guardians had just six hits as a team in the losing effort. Cal Quantrill ended up with the loss after giving up all four runs, three earned, on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks over five innings of work. Shane Bieber will get the start here and was 13-8 with a 2.88 ERA and 198 strikeouts in the regular season.
The New York Yankees will try to build up a 2-0 series lead after their win over the Guardians last time out. Anthony Rizzo had a two-run home run while Harrison Bader had a solo home run and Jose Trevino added an RBI as well to cap off the scoring for the Bronx Bombers in the win. Josh Donaldson added a pair of hits while Isiah Kiner-Falefa added a base hit as well to cap off the offense for the Yankees as New York had just five hits as a team in the win. Gerrit Cole got the win after giving up one run on four hits with eight strikeouts over 6.1 innings of work. Netor Cortes Jr. will get the start here and was 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA and 163 strikeouts in the regular season.
Cleveland is 7-0 in their last 7 games following a loss and 8-1 in their last 9 games against a team with a left-handed starter while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 division games. New York is 13-5 in their last 18 games overall and 12-5 in their last 17 playoff home games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 Thursday games.
I get the reasoning for backing either side in this game, but I’m looking at the under in this one. I’m just not thrilled with what I’ve seen from the Guardians up to this point offensively and I think Bieber will battle this Yankee lineup to try to keep the Guardians in the game. All in all, I would see this as a first to 3 wins kind of game, so give me the under here.