Juan Soto's extra-inning homer sends Yankees to World Series with 5-2 win over Guardians

The Yankees traded for Juan Soto hoping he’d help them go back to the World Series — and on Saturday night, he made sure they did.

Soto swatted a tie-breaking, three-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to lead the Yankees to a 5-2 victory over the Guardians in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

The win means the Yanks topped the Guardians, four games to one, and earned their first trip to the Fall Classic since 2009. It is the 41st World Series berth for the Yankees, who are looking to win their 28th title. They await the winner of the NLCS between the Mets and the Dodgers.

Here are the takeaways…

– The last player to hit a home run in extra innings in an LCS-clinching victory was Aaron Boone, the current Yankee manager, who did it for the Yankees in 2003. That’s according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

– Luke Weaver, who suffered a blown save in Game 3, threw a scoreless ninth and a scoreless 10th inning for the Yankees. The Yankee bullpen totaled six scoreless innings, including two-thirds from Mark Leiter Jr. and 1.1 apiece from Tim Hill and Jake Cousins.

– Giancarlo Stanton, of course, homered, too. His blast came with Gleyber Torres aboard and two out in the sixth inning and it tied the score at 2-2. Torres started the inning with a single and Soto followed with another, but Aaron Judge hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Stanton fell behind, 0-2, by swinging and missing at a slider and a changeup, but he laid off a slider, a curve and a change that were all out of the strike zone.

Tanner Bibee threw another slider but it caught too much of the strike zone. Stanton pounced and drilled it 446 feet for his fourth home run of the ALCS and fifth overall this postseason. The exit velo on the blast was 117.5 mph. It is the fourth hardest-hit home run in Statcast history (since 2015). Stanton also owns the second-hardest, a 118.3-mph shot in the 2020 ALDS. All eight of Stanton’s hits against Cleveland in the postseason have been home runs.

– The Yankees had an active first inning, getting four baserunners, but could not score. Torres and Soto continued their incredible first-inning offense when Torres led off with a single and Soto followed with a rocket into the right-center gap. Torres was waved around by third-base coach Luis Rojas and tried to score from first, but he was cut down at the plate via a terrific relay throw from Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez.

The throw was clocked at 94.4 miles-per-hour and was the second-fastest assist by an infielder in the postseason, as tracked by MLB’s Statcast (since 2015). Without a precise, hard throw from Giménez, the Yankees would’ve had an early lead. Still, they had other chances. Cleveland starter Bibee hit Aaron Judge with a pitch and, one out later, also hit Jazz Chisholm. That loaded the bases. But Bibee retired Anthony Rizzo on a fly to left.

– Torres is now 5-for-6 with two doubles and three walks in the first inning of games this postseason and Soto is 6-for-8 with a home run, Saturday’s double, and a walk in the opening frame.

– The Guardians’ brother act, Josh and Bo Naylor, teamed to put them up, 1-0, in the second inning. Josh Naylor reached on an infield hit toward third base, and one out later, Bo Naylor finished a 10-pitch at-bat by lashing an RBI double to right. Josh Naylor, going on the full-count pitch, scored from first. Bo Naylor, who had started the postseason 0-for-14, turned on a 97-mph fastball for his double. That gave him three hits in his five at-bats since the rough start.

– Giménez hurt the Yankees in the fifth, too, smacking a one-out double, the second extra-base hit by a lefty off Carlos Rodón. After Rodón struck out Brayan Rocchio with high, 99-mph heat, Steven Kwan smacked an RBI single to center for a 2-0 Cleveland lead. The Guardians almost got more after David Fry hit a broken-bat flare into second that Judge dove for but could not corral.

That put runners on second and third and knocked out Rodón. Reliever Leiter Jr. came in and threw a ball to José Ramírez and, at that point, Boone decided to intentionally walk Cleveland’s best player, loading the bases. The gambit worked as Leiter retired Lane Thomas on a grounder to second.

– Rodón, making his third start of the postseason, wasn’t as terrific as he had been in the ALCS opener. But he gave the Yankees 4.2 innings and allowed two runs and five hits. He struck out six and walked one, his first walk of the postseason. When he left, the Yankees were behind, 2-0. Rodón has a 4.40 ERA this postseason.

– Yankees got a terrific play at first from another fill-in first baseman in the seventh inning. Oswaldo Cabrera, who earlier had entered the game to run for Anthony Rizzo. With a runner on first, Cabrera fielded a hard grounder by Kwan and tagged the bag. Cleveland’s Brayan Rocchio, hoping that Cabrera fired to second for a tag play, turned to come back to first. Cabrera tagged him to complete a double play. Cousins then struck out Kyle Manzardo to end the inning.

– Stanton passed Babe Ruth on the Yankees’ all-time leaderboard for postseason home runs with his 16th. Only Mickey Mantle (18), Derek Jeter (20) and Bernie Williams (22) are ahead of Stanton on the Club’s list. Stanton has 16 homers in 36 career postseason games. Over a full season, that’s a 72-homer pace.

– Struggling Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase, who had allowed four runs in 1.1 innings over two appearances in the series, a 27.01 ERA, threw a scoreless ninth. He retired Judge on a fly ball and struck out Stanton with a 101-mph fastball during the frame. It’s hardly payback for the back-to-back homers the pair hit off him in Game 3, but it was enough to help him get a goose egg.

Game MVP: Soto, who has three home runs this postseason

He had a seven-pitch battle with Hunter Gaddis, one of the primary arms in Cleveland’s tough bullpen, including four consecutive foul balls, before clubbing the homer. Soto hit the ball nearly 110 miles per hour. Soto was 3-for-5 on the night and also hit a double. A key error by Cleveland shortstop Rocchio on a potential force play got Soto to the plate in the 10th. Soto even caught the final out of the game in right.