Cleveland’s ace awaits as Bauer pitches like one
CLEVELAND — Trevor Bauer made Aaron Judge look silly, and made his manager look like a genius.
One year after nearly costing the Indians a trip to the World Series, Bauer helped them take the first step back.
Named a surprise starter for Game 1, Bauer chopped Judge and New York’s other big bats down to size, and Jay Bruce drove in three runs as Cleveland began chasing its first World Series title in 69 years with a 4-0 win over the Yankees on Thursday night in the opener of their AL Division Series.
Bauer struck out Judge three times, twice getting the MVP candidate looking. Bauer allowed two hits in 62⁄3 innings before manager Terry Francona, who chose to start the righthander over Corey Kluber, turned to baseball’s best bullpen, using Andrew Miller and closer Cody Allen to finish the three-hitter.
Allen came into the game with two on and two outs in the eighth to face Judge, who struck out for the fourth time. Allen then worked the ninth for a save.
Judge’s analysis of Bauer was supported in New York’s clubhouse.
“He was mixing his pitches well. He was using the corners extremely well,” he said. “You’ve got to tip your cap sometimes. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and get ready for tomorrow.”
New York next faces Kluber, an 18-game winner during the regular season. He’ll start Game 2 on Friday against CC Sabathia.
Bruce connected for a tworun homer in the fourth off former A’s right-hander Sonny Gray and added a sacrifice fly in the fifth as the Indians began a journey to try to end the majors’ longest Series title drought.
Eyebrows were raised when Francona picked Bauer instead of Kluber. Bauer, the eccentric right-hander, perhaps best known for slicing a pinkie open while repairing a drone during last year’s postseason and bleeding all over the mound in Toronto, delivered a performance that started October just right for the Indians.
“The mind-set was to go out there like a closer in the first inning and put up a scoreless inning at all costs,” Bauer said. “And then if I was still in the game, do it again in the second inning and the third and on until I was taken out of the game. So no-hitter, 10-hitter, or whatever, that was the mindset.”
Coming off their win over Minnesota in the wild-card game Tuesday, when Judge homered in his playoff debut, the Yankees had momentum.
Bauer stopped the Bronx Bombers cold.
He struck out eight and took a no-hitter into the sixth before Aaron Hicks doubled with one out. It was the longest no-hit bid by a Cleveland pitcher in the postseason, bettering Hall of Famers Bob Feller (1948) and Early Wynn (1954), who each went four innings.
Bauer, who improved to 3-0 this season against the Yankees, got help from All-Star second baseman-turned-center fielder Jason Kipnis, who made a diving catch to rob Chase Headley in the third. As Kipnis got to his feet, Bauer raised both arms above his head, pumped his fist and screamed to salute his teammate.
Bruce gave the Indians a 3-0 lead in the fourth with a towering homer to right.
The Indians are 43-9 since Bruce arrived in an Aug. 9 trade from the Mets.
“I’m very, very fortunate to be here,” Bruce said. “I couldn’t have fallen into a better situation. Obviously, when you get traded 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.”