Juan Soto was intentionally walked to load the bases for Aaron Judge.

Yes, that just happened.

The Yankees started the second inning of Game 2 of the ALCS on Tuesday night against the Guardians in the Bronx with three hits.

The first two were singles by Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo, followed by an RBI double by Alex Verdugo that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Gleyber Torres, the next batter, popped up and set up a second-and-third-and-out situation.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, recognizing how important this Game 2 was for Cleveland and seeing that there was a danger of escaping Cleveland, initially decided to play a hot Soto to face the struggling Judge.

Vogt then retired his ace Tanner Bibbee in favor of one of his highly effective replacements, the flame-throwing Cade Smith, to face Judge.

With the bases loaded and one base down, Judge hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 for the Yankees, but did not score a game-winning blast.

Smith then went all out to strike out the next batter, Austin Wells, to keep the Guardians out of the second inning with just two runs, minimizing the damage.

Vogt explained his decision to pull Bibbee during an in-game interview.

“It was time to get Cade and stop this,” Vogt told TBS reporter Lauren Jbara. “Hopefully we can get some offense going.”

Judge appeared in the first inning with runners on first and third, but was left behind by shortstop Brayan Rocchio, giving the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.

The Guardians still remained scoreless, but Smith retired the Yankees to keep Cleveland in the ensuing third inning.