Yankees Bats Come to Life, Blast Indians in Wild Card Opener

YANKEES 12 - INDIANS 3 

The biggest punches in Cleveland Tuesday night weren't delivered by the hideous Presidential debate that took place down the street, but instead were delivered by the New York Yankees, as the Bronx Bombers pounded the Cleveland Indians 12-3 in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series.

The Bombers, who came into the series having lost six of their final eight regular season games, and whose offense was mired in mediocrity broke out in a big way, combining for four homers and 15 hits as Cleveland's Shane Bieber had the worst outing of his entire season. 

It didn't take long for the Yankees to send the message that the Bronx Bombers were indeed alive and well, and ready for some serious postseason action. On the third pitch he saw from Bieber, AL Batting Champion, D.J. LeMahieu ripped a fastball into right field to get the party started. 

One pitch later, Aaron Judge took a Bieber fastball and crushed it into right field stands, handing the Yankees and starter Gerrit Cole an early 2-0 advantage. 

Cole didn't disappoint either. The right-hander silenced the Indians quickly through his first two innings of work, striking out four in the process, as he mixed and matched his knuckle curve and fastball. The Indians didn't know what was coming from the Yankees' ace. 

In the top of the third inning, first baseman Luke Voit added to the lead when he crushed a 3-1 fastball off the base of the wall in left-center, easily scoring Aaron Hicks to make it 3-0 New York. The runs kept pouring in after that. 

The much maligned Brett Gardner reminded Yankees fans why he is so clutch in big moments when drove in Gleyber Torres on a RBI double to left to push the Yankees lead to 4-1. 

Fast forward to the top of the fifth and Torres crushed a fastball that was low in the zone, depositing it over the giant left field wall for a two-run homer to put the Yankees up big, 7-2.

From that point on the rout was on!

A two-run blast by Gardner in the top of the seventh, and a solo shot from Giancarlo Stanton capped off an incredible night for the Yankees. 

As for Cole, he finished the night with seven superb innings, scattering two runs on six hits, while striking out 13 Cleveland batters. 

On the flip side, Bieber took the loss, charged with seven runs, all earned, on nine hits over four-and-two-thirds innings. It was his worst start of the season, and the second time he has been shelled by this Yankees lineup since last season. 

The Yankees have a golden opportunity to nail down the series on Wednesday night when they send Mashairo Tanaka to the mound against Carlos Carrasco. First pitch will be at 7:00 on ESPN. If the Indians should win Game 2, then a Game 3 will take place on Thursday night in Cleveland.