Stanton, Judge power Yankees past Guardians, into ALCS vs Astros

Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge staggered Cleveland with early homers, and the New York Yankees beat the Guardians 5-1 Tuesday in the decisive Game 5 of their AL Division Series to set up another rematch with Houston for the pennant.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone won his gamble by starting Nestor Cortes on three days' rest over Jameson Taillon, making the late switch after Monday night's rain caused a postponement.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona stayed the course with Aaron Civale instead of switching to 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on short rest. Civale had trouble throwing strikes, and the Guardians never recovered from Stanton's three-run homer just 21 pitches in.

The sellout crowd of 48,178 cheered as the Yankees when Myles Straw hit a grounder for the final out. Second baseman Gleyber Torres stepped on the bag to end it, then mimicked rocking a baby with the ball — a jab at Guardians slugger Josh Naylor, who made the motion rounding the bases after a homer off Gerrit Cole in Game 4.

Taillon will start Wednesday night's AL Championship Series opener at Houston, which goes with Justin Verlander. The AL matchup features the league's top two regular-season teams in the 106-win Astros and 99-win Yankees, a contrast to the NL championship between wild-card San Diego and Philadelphia.

Stan by me. <a href="https://t.co/rIm8yhgCZY">pic.twitter.com/rIm8yhgCZY</a>

Houston beat the Yankees in a seven-game championship series in 2017 and over six games in 2019. The Astros went on to their first World Series title in 2017 but later were found to have used a video camera to signal opposition pitches to their batters.

AL East champion New York, seeking its 28th title and first since 2009, may be without Aaron Hicks.