ALCS Game 2 Reactions: How Judge’s process led to his slump-busting homer

The Yankees came into Game 2 with their ace on the mound against the Cleveland Guardians , looking to extend their lead in the series and take one step closer to their first World Series in the Aaron Judge era. And with players in the heart of the lineup like Aaron Judge, Austin Wells, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. struggling, fans have been eagerly waiting for a breakout.

One major key for the game (and the overall series) is getting to the Cleveland starters early, and the Yankees did just that.

Tanner Bibee, coming off his first two career postseason starts in their series against the Detroit Tigers in which he posted a 2.08 ERA in 8.2 innings pitched, struggled early on to establish any sort of rhythm against a Yankees lineup that took its fair share of pitches. Gleyber Torres led off the game with a double, Juan Soto hit a ball through the infield for a single, and then Torres scored on a dropped infield pop-up by Brayan Rocchio. Judge hit the ball 193 feet into the air, which caused the issues for the Guardians shortstop.

Because the Yankees have not been able to convert with runners in scoring position through this postseason, they have needed to (and still need to) take advantage of these errors. In this series, they have thus far.

Not only did they take advantage of the first one made in the first inning, but they also took advantage of an error later in the game by right fielder Will Brennan, allowing Anthony Volpe to score from first.

The biggest development of the night, though, was the breakthrough from Judge in the power department, smashing a two-run home run to center field for his first homer of the postseason.

The Yankees made it this far without any significant contributions from the frontrunner for American League MVP. However, if they want to continue advancing and potentially win the whole thing, they needed their franchise player to return to form. In his at-bats over the course of the game (and even some in Game 1 and in Game 4 of the ALDS), there was an obvious change in the quality of contact and swing decisions.

His pop fly, which resulted in an error in the first inning, was clocked at 103.3 mph. Despite being a good swing in which Judge worked his hands through and pushed 323 feet, this sacrifice fly was only hit 88.3 because of where the ball came off the bat (the lighter part close to the handle of the bat).

Judge's third at-bat was a 92.5-mph fly out — another hard-hit ball considered an above-average swing with regards to bat speed, his second of the night. Then, of course, there was the two-run homer, the epic finale to what felt like an eternity of near-misses.

Yankees fans and Judge himself have been waiting for that first homer to arrive. Since hitting his postseason slump in the series against the Kansas City Royals , it felt as if the big center fielder and superstar was slowly working his way back to the 58 home run form seen in the regular season. Of course, there are still plenty of games left to be played, and one homer is just that: one homer.

Still, Judge's homer drought during the regular season, spanning 16 games from August 26 to September 12, felt drawn out considering what he had done prior to it. The blast that brought him out of that slump — a game-winning grand slam against the Boston Red Sox — helped put him back on track to finish the 162-game schedule.

Hopefully, with this homer in his back pocket, Judge can head into a hostile Cleveland environment with a weight having been lifted from his shoulders. The games in New York were close. Despite what the final score-lines may have said, there were multiple stressful moments through both of them. That won't change on the road, so these results in Game 2 could play a huge role in this series, and the next if the Yankees make it there.