Yankees' Gerrit Cole Praised for 'Lights Out' Performance in Game 1 Win vs. Guardians

Starting pitcher Gerrit Cole struck out eight batters over 6.1 innings of one-run ball to lead the New York Yankees to a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Tuesday.

Cole lived on the edge in the second and third innings, but he got out of trouble twice and authored an excellent start to his postseason.

In the second, Andres Giménez hit a one-out double to get Cleveland's first player in scoring position on the night, but Cole then struck out Will Brennan and Austin Hedges to end the threat.

Cole encountered more issues in the third. A Steven Kwan one-out solo home run gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead, and then the next three batters got on to load the bases. However, a groundout (fielder's choice at home) and strikeout prevented more damage.

From there, Cole cruised to 3.1 more shutout innings, allowing just two baserunners along the way.

Cole gave the Yankees' offense more than enough breathing room.

A Harrison Bader solo home run tied the game at one in the third before Jose Trevino hit the game-winning sacrifice fly in the fifth. Anthony Rizzo added some insurance with a two-run homer in the sixth.

Ultimately, the story of this game was Cole and his great outing. The Yankees ace kept his team in the game before they tacked on much-needed runs in the fifth and sixth.

Twitter (and Yankees fans) were impressed with Cole's work.

The Yankees and Guardians will play Game 2 on Thursday at 7:37 p.m. ET from Yankee Stadium. Nestor Cortes will start for New York, and Shane Bieber will do the same for Cleveland.