How will Guardians pitch to Aaron Judge?

NEW YORK -- The two swings look like they could’ve come at any chapter during Aaron Judge’s record-setting season. Turns out, his two-homer game against the Guardians was the opening statement.

Twice, Judge worked ahead in the count vs. Cleveland pitching, then he sent two fastballs on the outside corner -- one on a 3-1 pitch from right-hander Eli Morgan, the other a 3-2 pitch from lefty Tanner Tully -- deep to right field at Yankee Stadium. His second and third home runs of the season allowed him to outscore the Guardians by himself in a 4-1 victory on April 22.

Judge had homered once in New York’s first 13 games. The two-homer effort started him on a roll of eight home runs in 10 games over 12 days. The rest is history, but that was the end of the Guardians’ role in it. While Judge beat a lot of opposing pitchers for 62 home runs, Cleveland pitchers made sure he didn’t beat them for any more -- not in the remaining two games of that April series in The Bronx, nor during their three-game series at Progressive Field in July.

As the Guardians return to Yankee Stadium for their American League Division Series, the record books aren’t on the line, but the season is. That gives Cleveland pitchers something to think about differently than the hurlers who faced Judge over the last several weeks of the regular season.

“We’re going to attack him with respect,” pitching coach Carl Willis said, “but we are going to attack him and hopefully not get in situations where he can be -- we don’t want that, but certainly we respect Aaron and the remainder of their lineup.”

Asked if that means the Guardians won’t pitch around Judge, Willis jokingly asked a reporter if his quotes would be relayed back to the slugger.

“We don’t want to back down from anybody,” Willis said. “And at the same time, we are not going to be stupid. The situation will certainly dictate how we pitch to him, but there are going to be times when we have to. We’ll be prepared to do that.

“There’s the utmost respect for everyone that puts on a Major League uniform, but certainly having an historic, record-breaking year like he has had, he deserves a little more attention.”

Asked if there’s any difference in an approach to hitters on Judge’s level in a postseason setting, Guardians manager Terry Francona chose his words as carefully as their pitches likely will be.

“Certainly your preparation is deeper and more in-depth in a series like this,” he said. “Saying that, every game we play is really meaningful to us. When we played them back in April, those games are important. If I thought it was right or not right to do it then, if the situation dictated now, I wouldn’t change because it’s a playoff game.”

Cleveland’s strategy against Judge after that two-homer game reflected that. Guardians pitchers changed speeds, eye levels and worked both sides of the plate, trying to avoid patterns that Judge could exploit. They threw offspeed pitches to Judge when behind in counts, whether that was a 91 mph slider on a 3-1 pitch with a two-run lead in the ninth inning on July 3 or a looping full-count breaking ball that Aaron Civale used to fan Judge in a one-run game on July 2.

The one Guardians pitcher who really attacked Judge this season was Bryan Shaw. Two innings after Civale fanned Judge on breaking balls, Shaw fanned him on three fastballs in the eighth inning. By then, though, the Yankees had a four-run lead.

For the season, Judge batted .235 (4-for-17) with three RBIs, five walks -- none intentional, at least officially -- and three strikeouts against Cleveland. All four hits went for extra bases, including two doubles. For his career, Judge is a combined 0-for-12 with two walks and three strikeouts against Guardians starters Cal Quantrill, Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie.

Quantrill, who starts Game 1, is the only member of the trio to face Judge this season, holding him 0-for-3 on April 23 -- the day after his two-homer game.

“There’s a lot of good hitters in our league. If you overthink every single hitter, it can lead to more problems than solutions,” Quantrill said. “We are aware of what he’s capable of. We will do our best to make sure we are managing him.

“That said, we will have a game plan. We are not just going to allow him to walk all over us, hopefully, and we are not going to allow him to dictate the entire approach to the lineup.”