Game Notes, 10/15/2024 – LCS Day 3

Six times this postseason, Gleyber Torres has walked to the plate in the first inning to get things started for the Yankees.  Five times this postseason, that opening opportunity has equaled an opening salvo:  walk, walk, double, single, double.  It’s a small picture of Torres as the catalyst, and presents a nice snapshot of the second baseman’s influence this October.  Through six contests, Torres leads the Yankees outright in runs scored and times on base, is tied for the most walks and the most hits, and owns the second most extra-base hits and total bases.  

The team high mark for runs scored by a leadoff hitter in a single postseason is 14, by Derek Jeter in 2009 during the club’s run all the way to the title. Torres is halfway there.

The Yankees doubled up the visiting Guardians, 6-3, to take a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.

~This is the seventh time Cleveland and New York have faced one another in the postseason, and the fourth time in this matchup a team has won the first two games of the series.  The first three occurrences:

2007 ALDS:  Cleveland wins the first two games at home

2017 ALDS:  Cleveland wins the first two games at home

2020 ALWC:  New York wins the first two games* on the road 

*These two victories were all New York needed to advance to the next round

~With the victory, the Yankees improved to 130-82 all-time in postseason home games.  Their .613 winning percentage is topped only by the .635 claimed by the New York Mets (33-19 at home).  The Yankees have more home victories than all but one franchise has total home games – the Dodgers have 146.

~The Yankees have taken the first two games of an ALCS for the first time since 2009, when they won the first two at home against the Angels and ultimately won the series in six games.

~The Guardians have dropped the first two games of an ALCS for the first time ever.  The franchise is competing in its sixth League Championship Series.

Gleyber Torres doubled and singled twice in the Yankees’ victory, lifting his 2024 slash line to .292/.433/.500.  The leadoff hitter has reached safely in all six games this year.

~Torres is one of six Yankees leadoff hitters to open a postseason by reaching safely in each of the team’s first six games.  Earle Combs was the first to do this, in 1926.  Derek Jeter did it in 2004, 2009 and 2012, and DJ LeMahieu made the club a quintet in 2020.

~Torres’ .933 OPS out of the leadoff spot is the sixth best for any Yankees’ leadoff hitter through six games* of a postseason (min. 18 PA)

Derek Jeter         1.131 in 2009

Earle Combs       1.125 in 1932*

Frankie Crosetti   1.056 in 1938*

Derek Jeter         .967 in 2005*

Phil Rizzuto         .959 in 1942*

Gleyber Torres    .933 in 2024

*Combs and Crosetti only played four games, as their teams swept the World Series.  Rizzuto played in five contests (Yankees lost the Fall Classic in five games), as did Jeter in 2005 (Yankees dropped the ALDS in five).  They all still had enough plate appearances to qualify for this list.

Steven Kwan went 1-for-4 to extend his postseason hitting streak to 12 games.  Brayan Rocchio went 2-for-4 to have a hit in all seven games of his postseason career.  Combined, the Guardians pair is 23-for-52 (.442) for the 2024 postseason.

~Kwan’s streak – which began in Game 1 of the 2022 ALDS – ties for the 26th longest in postseason history.  Ketel Marte owns the longest streak, hitting safely in 20 straight (from Game 1 of the 2017 NLWC through Game 4 of the 2023 World Series).  

~Kwan and Rocchio (2024) are the only two players in franchise history to hit safely in each of the club’s first seven games in a postseason.

~Rocchio is the first player in franchise history to have a hit in each of his first seven career postseason games.  Across the entirety of all franchise logs, Rocchio is one of 48 players with hits in each of their first seven postseason contests.

~Rocchio ‘s total of 10 hits through his first seven career postseason games ties him for the second most within the franchise.  Jhonny Peralta had the most, 11.  Rocchio is matched with Carlos Baerga, Lonnie Chisenhall, Victor Martinez and Josh Naylor.

Aaron Judge hit his 14th career postseason home run.  

~The outfielder is tied with David Justice and Kiké Hernández for the 20th most longballs all-time.  

~Only Carlos Beltrán – with 16 home runs – has hit more than Judge without ever homering in a World Series.  

~Judge’s 14 home runs represent the fifth most in Yankees history, leaving him one behind Babe Ruth.

The Yankees victory came despite starter Gerrit Cole failing to complete five innings (he allowed 2 runs in 4.1 innings).  All-time, New York is 38-73 in the postseason when seeing its starter fail to get through five.  Cole is the 27th different Yankees starter to see his club pull out a win after he didn’t get through five innings.  Ron Guidry, Kenny Rogers, Roger Clemens, CC Sabathia and Luis Severino are tied for the most such experiences, with three apiece.

In his lackluster effort, Gerrit Cole did add four strikeouts to his postseason tally, giving him 146 for his career.  The Yankees righty moved past Tom Glavine (143 K’s) and Mike Mussina (145) to claim sole possession of the seventh most.  Roger Clemens (173) and Max Scherzer (171) occupy the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.