Bruce a bomber in Cleveland win

CLEVELAND — It might have been worth absorbing the entire remainder of Jay Bruce’s contract in August for the Yankees just to avoid what he did to them offensively on Thursday night. Bruce, who instead was dealt by the Mets to Cleveland, homered and drove in three runs and scored twice in the Indians’ 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the AL division series. “No, that was never brought to my attention. The only call I got was when I was traded,” Bruce replied when asked if he’d ever considered that he might’ve joined the Yankees instead just after the non-waiver trade deadline. “I’m very fortunate to be here, though.

“I couldn’t have fallen into a better situation. Obviously when you get traded (midseason) and you’re in trade rumors, it’s usually a contender or a team that’s contending at the moment. For whatever reason, I ended up here...And this has been a blast so far.”

That Bruce didn’t end up in the Bronx spurred several rounds of anonymous sniping at the time between the two New York organizations, with the Yankees suggesting they offered multiple prospects to comprise a better package than the return the Mets ended up accepting from Cleveland — namely low-level reliever Ryder Ryan.

Notably, Cleveland also was willing to absorb the $3.7 million remaining on the outfielder’s contract, while the Yankees wanted the Mets to pick up a chunk of Bruce’s salary.

It certainly looked like a wise investment for the Indians when Bruce doubled and scored in Thursday’s second inning and then ripped a two-run homer to right two innings later against Yanks starter Sonny Gray. He later added a sacrifice fly against Yanks lefty Jaime Garcia for a 4-0 Cleveland lead through five. That was more than enough support for Tribe starter Trevor Bauer, who allowed only two hits in 6.2 innings.

The Indians’ official Twitter account even seemingly mocked the Yankees during the game over their landing of Bruce, tweeting “Jay Bruce is on our team because our owner wrote a check that competitors for Jay wouldn’t,” moments after his home run.

“This team welcomed me with open arms,” Bruce said. “For me to come in and the transition be so seamless, I can’t imagine that happens every time or for everyone. To walk into a situation like this is something that you don’t see very often.”

Bruce, who went hitless in three at-bats for the Mets in the NL wild-card game loss to San Francisco last season, had belted two previous playoff home runs, with the Reds in 2010 and 2012.

“He’s been in the postseason a few times back with Cincinnati, so I think he’s excited for the opportunity,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “But he’s a veteran guy. I don’t think a game like tonight is going to be too big for him. I think he was more excited than anything.”