Stanton, Judge slug Yankees past Guardians, setting up ALCS showdown with Astros

Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge staggered Cleveland with early homers, and the New York Yankees beat the Guardians 5-1 Tuesday in the decisive Game 5 of their AL Division Series to set up another rematch with Houston for the pennant.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone won his gamble by starting Nestor Cortes on three days' rest over Jameson Taillon, making the late switch after Monday night's rain caused a postponement.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona stayed the course with Aaron Civale instead of switching to 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on short rest. Civale had trouble throwing strikes, and the Guardians never recovered from Stanton's three-run homer just 21 pitches in.

The sellout crowd of 48,178 cheered when Myles Straw hit a grounder for the final out. Second baseman Gleyber Torres stepped on the bag to end it, then mimicked rocking a baby with the ball — a jab at Guardians slugger Josh Naylor, who made the motion rounding the bases after a homer off Gerrit Cole in Game 4.

Taillon will start Wednesday night's AL Championship Series opener at Houston, which goes with Justin Verlander. The AL matchup features the league's top two regular-season teams in the 106-win Astros and 99-win Yankees, a contrast to the NL championship between wild-card San Diego and Philadelphia.

Houston beat the Yankees in a seven-game championship series in 2017 and over six games in 2019. The Astros went on to their first World Series title in 2017 but later were found to have used a video camera to signal opposition pitches to their batters.

AL East champion New York, seeking its 28th title and first since 2009, may be without Aaron Hicks. The left fielder came out of the game after hurting his left knee in a third-inning collision with rookie shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera.

AL Central champion Cleveland, the youngest team in the majors and with a $68 million US payroll that's a fraction of the Yankees' $274 million, remained without a championship since 1948. The Guardians led 2-1 in the best-of-five series before the Yankees won 4-2 behind Cole on Sunday to force the series back to New York. Cole was warming up in the ninth inning of Game 5, just in case.

Cleveland has lost 11 straight postseason elimination games, a major league record. The Guardians seemed jarred by the early deficit and failed to ask for a video review in the fourth inning when Andres Gimenez clearly beat a diving Anthony Rizzo to the first-base bag.

Cortes, a fan favorite with his hesitation delivery that he used in the fifth, allowed one run, struck out two and walked one while throwing 61 pitches.

Stanton and Judge homered twice each in the series, and New York outhomered Cleveland 9-3 while scoring 16 of its 20 runs on long balls. Judge became the first player with four homers in a winner-take-all postseason game, breaking a tie with Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron, Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Troy O'Leary.

Rain had cleared out and the game began with left and center field in brilliant sunshine on a 57-degree afternoon. There were scattered empty seats for the 4:07 p.m. start, and fans loudly booed Naylor whose exuberant "rock the baby" home run trot Sunday got New York's attention. Fans serenaded Naylor with rocking motions and chanted "Who's Your Daddy!" as they did for Boston's Pedro Martinez two decades earlier.

Torres walked on four pitches leading off, Judge struck out on a full-count curveball and Civale hit Rizzo on the left thigh with a pitch.

Civale started Stanton with an outside curveball in the dirt, and pitching coach Carl Willis went to the mound. Civale threw a cutter that missed low and outside. and catcher Austin Hedges set up on the low, outside corner, Civale left a cutter up and Stanton lined it 379 feet into the short right-field porch, a drive that would be a home run in only three of the 30 major league ballparks.

Civale faced just one more batter, leaving after Josh Donaldson's infield single.

Judge hit an opposite-field drive to right in the second on a curveball from left-hander Sam Hentges, Judge's 13th postseason homer. The Yankees are 27-2 when Stanton and Judge homer in the same game.

Jose Ramirez drove Cleveland's run with a sacrifice fly in the third after the bloop single down the left-field line by rookie Steven Kwan, the play that caused Hicks' injury. Kwan was 9 for 21 (.429) in the series.

Hicks out for postseason with knee injury

Yankees left fielder Aaron Hicks will miss the remainder of the postseason after injuring his left knee Tuesday in a collision with rookie shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera.

Hicks went to a hospital for an MRI after exiting Game 5 of the AL Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians in the third inning. New York won 5-1 to reach the best-of-seven AL Championship Series, which starts Wednesday night at Houston.

"I want to be a part of it and I'm now no longer going to be able to play on the field to help this team win," Hicks said, noting his injury requires a six-week recovery. "I've just got to watch from the sidelines."

Phillies top Padres to open NLCS

Bryce Harper homered again, Kyle Schwarber hit a jaw-dropping, 488-foot drive and Zack Wheeler was brilliant in throwing one-hit ball for seven innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the San Diego Padres 2-0 Tuesday night to open the all-wild card NL Championship Series.

The Phillies will try to take a 2-0 lead when they send Aaron Nola to mound to oppose Blake Snell on Wednesday afternoon. Nola is set to pitch against his brother, Padres catcher Austin Nola.

The Padres, who eliminated the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, had only four baserunners, including a single by Wil Myers in the fifth. Still, they had a chance to win in the ninth against Jose Alvarado.

Jurickson Profar drew a one-out walk and Juan Soto reached when third baseman Alec Bohm made an errant throwing trying for a force. Manny Machado flied out and Alvarado struck out Josh Bell for the save, looking skyward and clapping after getting the final out.

Harper, trying to reach his first World Series, hit a high-arcing, opposite-field shot into the first row in left field with one out in the fourth. It was the fourth home run this postseason for Harper, who was playing in San Diego for the first time since his left thumb was broken when he was hit by a pitch by Blake Snell on June 25, sidelining him for two months.

Harper homered in his third straight postseason game. The two-time NL MVP, who won the award last year, has hit nine home runs in 26 career post-season games.

Schwarber's incredible shot on Darvish's first pitch of the sixth had an exit velocity of 119.7 mph and was the first to reach the right field upper deck at Petco Park, which opened in 2004. It was the farthest in his career and the farthest at Petco in the Statcast Era and gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Schwarber raised his right arm as he rounded first base and Harper stood in the dugout with his mouth agape in amazement.

They were the latest impressive home runs for the Phillies, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The last won the World Series in 2008. They've hit eight homers in seven games this postseason.

Harper joined Gary Matthews (1983) as the only players in franchise history to homer in three straight postseason games in the same year. Harper hit one homer in the wild-card series win at St. Louis and two in going 8 for 16 as the Phillies eliminated the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.

The Phillies at times stunned Petco Park, where a sellout crowd of 44,826 was amped up for the Padres' first NLCS appearance since 1998. It was 78 degrees at first pitch at 5:04 p.m., a big change from Saturday night's rainstorm during the Padres' 5-3 clinching win in the NLDS.

But Wheeler had he Padres totally off balance, allowing only a one-out walk to Juan Soto in the first and then retiring 12 straight batters until Myers singled with one out in the fifth. Wheeler then retired his final eight batters. He struck out eight and walked one on 83 pitches.

Seranthony Dominguez pitched a perfect eighth.

Darvish took the loss, allowing two runs and three hits in seven innings while striking out seven and walking one.