NEW YORK – Aaron Judge hit his first home run of the postseason with a two-run drive to Monument Park, and the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 on Tuesday night to go 2-0 in the AL Championship Series in the lead.

Judge, who entered the playoffs with just one RBI, hit a sacrifice fly in a two-run second that gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead. With a 4-2 lead in Game 7, New York is the likely AL MVP drove a fastball to the letters of Hunter Gaddis 414 feet from center for his 14th home run of the season.

In a duel of off-night aces, Cleveland's Tanner Bibee got just four outs in the shortest start of his pro career and an erratic Gerrit Cole was chased after four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Winner Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Tommy Kahnle combined to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings. José Ramírez hit a ninth-inning home run off Luke Weaver, just the second earned run allowed by the New York bullpen in six postseason games over 23 1/3 innings.

After a day off, Game 3 will take place in Cleveland on Thursday. The Yankees lead the ALCS 2-0 for the first time since 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.

New York's Gleyber Torres reached base for the fifth time in the playoffs and had three hits. Anthony Rizzo had two hits and is 3-for-7 in two games since returning from a broken finger that caused him to miss the Division Series.

Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio and right fielder Will Brennan made run-scoring errors for the Guardians.

Rocchio dropped Judge's popup in the first inning, allowing Torres to score. After Cleveland got within 3-2, Brennan caused the ball to wobble as he tried to catch Rizzo's double with his bare hands in the sixth inning, which bounced off the low wall along the right field line. Anthony Volpe, who went first, sprinted home.

Steven Kwan extended his record postseason streak in Cleveland to 12 games.

Alex Verdugo had an opposite-field RBI double in the second that bounced off left field umpire Vic Carapazza's shoulder and went over the line.

Cleveland got within 3-2 in the fifth when Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly and Will Brennan grounded into a run-scoring forceout after Holmes relieved with the bases loaded.

Cleveland went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners stranded.

Cole escaped a two-on-one-out problem in the third and a bases-loaded one-out jam in the fourth when pinch-hitter David Fry fouled out and Rocchio made an ankle turn at the top of the strike zone referred to as the third strike in a nine-pitch at bat.

Holmes struck out Austin Hedges with a low sinker, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.

TRAINER ROOM

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb was removed from the roster due to a lower back strain suffered in the opener and replaced by RHP Ben Lively.

NEXT

Yankees RHP Clarke Schmidt starts Thursday in Cleveland. He allowed two runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings in Game 3 of the Division Series, blowing a 2-0 lead before New York won 3-2. He made one appearance against the Guardians that year and pitched five scoreless innings before allowing two runs in the sixth inning – one unearned – in a 3-2 win.

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