NEW YORK ā Gleyber Torres stepped on second base for the final out, swinging his arms back and forth, four times in all, while glaring at Josh Naylor and the Guardians dugout.
Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge rocked Cleveland with early homers, and Nestor Cortes and the New York Yankees rolled into another AL Championship Series matchup with the Houston Astros.
Recommended Videos
āWe got our revenge. Weāre happy to beat those guys. Now they can watch on TV the next series for us,ā Torres said after the Yankees beat the Guardians 5-1 in the decisive Game 5 of their AL Division Series on Tuesday night. "Itās nothing personal. Just a little thing about revenge.ā
Yankees manager Aaron Boone won his gamble by starting Cortes on three daysā rest over Jameson Taillon, making the late switch after Monday nightās 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.
āIāve never done it,ā Bieber said. āBut could I have? Sure.ā
Civale had trouble throwing strikes, and the Guardians never recovered from Stantonās three-run homer just 21 pitches in.
Taillon will start Wednesday night at Houston, which goes with Justin Verlander. The AL matchup features the leagueās 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.
āWhen theyāre all clicking theyāre great,ā Yankees ace Gerrit Cole said of the Astros, his former team. When theyāre not all clicking, theyāre great."
Cole got two wins against Cleveland and carved the Guardians with just three words. Naylor made the rocking the baby motion repeatedly while rounding the bases after homering off Cole in Game 4.
Cole responded: āWhatever. It's cute.ā
āWe feel like it is a little disrespectful, not just Cole but for the team,ā Torres said.
Yankees fans in the sellout crowd of 48,178 greeted Naylor with derisive chants of āWhoās your daddy!ā echoing their treatment of Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez two decades ago.
No offense, Naylor said.
āThat was so sick,ā he said. āThat was honestly like a dream come true as a kid. Playing in an environment like this, where theyāve got diehard fans. Itās cool.ā
Now 27, Cortes he was traded by the Yankees to Seattle after the 2019 season, was dropped by the Mariners a year later and became an All-Star after resurfacing in the Bronx.
āJust the legend of Nestor,ā Boone said. āHonestly going in, I would have been really excited about 10 batters.ā
Cortes dominated with three-hit ball for five innings for the win, throwing 61 pitches.
"Iāve got nothing to lose. Iāve been in the gutter before. Iāve been down,ā Cortes said. āSo for me, this is just a cherry on top,ā
Jonathan LoƔisiga, Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta finished with five-hit scoreless relief. Peralta became the first Yankees pitcher to appear in all five games of a Division Series..
āJust getting the last out, itās hard to explain. Itās such an exciting moment,ā Peralta said through a translator.
With two outs and two on, Myles Straw hit a grounder to shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who flipped to Torres to end it.
Anthony Rizzo had a fifth-inning RBI bloop single for AL East champion New York, which is seeking its 28th title and first since 2009,
AL Central champion Cleveland, the youngest team in the majors, remained without a championship since 1948. The Guardians whose $68 million payroll is a fraction of the Yankeesā $274 million, led 2-1 in the best-of-five series.
āI know they are hurting right now,ā Francona said. āThis needs to be a starting place for us. This canāt just be a good story this year. We need to take this and go, because I think we have a chance to have something really special.ā
JosĆ© RamĆrez's third-inning sacrifice fly drove in the only run for Cleveland, which has lost a big league record 11 straight postseason elimination games.
New York hit .182 but outhomered the Guardians 9-3 as Stanton and Judge each went deep twice. The Yankees scored 16 of their 20 runs on long balls.
āWe definitely had to throw the first punch in a game like this,ā Stanton said.
Judge, who homered on an opposite-field drive to right against Sam Hentges, became the first player with four homers in winner-take-all postseason games. He tugged at and kissed the interlocking āNYā on his jersey after reaching the dugout.
āIāve been watching a lot of Premier League soccer games. So Iāve seen those guys doing it," Judge said. "It was in the moment.ā
Civale threw just 12 of 26 pitches for strikes, getting only one swing and miss and just one out.
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.
Stanton lined a cutter 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 stared into his stall after the game, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, before showering and then answeing questions.
āJust didnāt have great command early on and didnāt last very long,ā he said. āLeft a pitch up, rand one of the guys that gets paid to hit home runs hit a home run.ā
TOO LATE
Cleveland failed to ask for a video review in the fourth inning when AndrƩs GimƩnez clearly beat a diving Rizzo to the first-base bag. Francona said he ran out of time.
TRAINERāS ROOM
Yankees: LF Aaron Hicks hurt his left knee in a collision with SS Oswaldo Cabrera chasing a Steven Kwan's popup, which fell for a single. Hicks said his postseason is over after an MRI showed the knee requires a six-week recovery. ... RHPs Ron Marinaccio (right shin) and Frankie Montas (right shoulder) could be activated agaist Houston. ... OF Andrew Benintendi (right wrist) is unlikely.
UP NEXT
Guardians: Open the season at Seattle on March 30.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports