NEW YORK -- The Guardians knew they’d have to walk a fine line against a dangerous lineup like the Yankees, but on Monday night, they learned just how thin the tightrope is.

It’s finding the perfect combination of pounding the strike zone just enough to force the New York hitters to make outs but not so much that it results in home runs. It’s avoiding catching too much of the plate without being too afraid to attack the hitter that results in one walk after the next.

It’s a difficult dance, but it’s one that Cleveland, down 1-0 in the series, will have to figure out quickly to shift momentum back in its favor. A short start by Alex Cobb followed by four wild pitches by Joey Cantillo that allowed two runs led to the Guardians falling, 5-2, to the Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium.

In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams winning Game 1 have gone on to take the series 123 of 191 times (64%). In series under the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning Game 1 at home have gone on to take the series 66 of 99 times (67%).

“We talked about this before the series started, these guys work the count,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We just need to attack the zone better, and we didn't tonight.”

If the Guardians are going to find success in the ALCS, they know they have to get in the strike zone. Their pitching staff was in the middle of the pack this year in in-zone percentage, throwing in the strike zone just under half the time (49.7 percent). They didn’t struggle with it too badly, but they also didn’t get many opponents to chase this season, owning the sixth-lowest chase rate of all 30 pitching staffs (27.6 percent).

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In theory, Cleveland should be used to having to pound the zone to get outs. However, trusting your stuff to do just that in the postseason can be a different story. Plus, living in the strike zone against a team that led the Majors in home runs (237) in the regular season can make even the most dominant hurlers think twice.

“It's a really good lineup,” Guardians catcher Bo Naylor said. “They know how to stay within themselves, and that's part of the reason that they're in the position they are today. But you’ve just got to get in the zone, force them to have to do damage and try to put yourselves in the right spots on the defensive end.”

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It all started in the third inning.

Cobb started the frame by giving up a solo homer to Juan Soto. He then walked two of the next three batters he faced and showed signs of discomfort in his left hip and back, prompting Cleveland to go to its bullpen.

When the rookie hurler Cantillo entered with the bases loaded and one out, he gave up a run on a wild pitch, walked a batter and then gave up another run on a wild pitch. It was just the second inning in postseason history with multiple run-scoring wild pitches, joining the Twins in 2002 against the Athletics, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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“The control, obviously, was not there,” Cantillo said. “Just got to be better next time. That performance was obviously the difference in the game. So that's on me.”

Once Cantillo finally got out of the inning, he returned for the start of the fourth and recorded two more wild pitches and issued a walk before the Guardians called on Pedro Avila. After Andrew Walters also had a wild pitch later in the night, Cleveland tied the record for most wild pitches in a postseason game (five) with the 2000 Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLDS.

“They went out there and just became a little more patient,” Naylor said, “kind of put the pressure on [Cantillo] to force him to have to get in the zone, and the inning just kind of got away.”

This is what the threat of the Yankees’ lineup can do to pitching staffs, especially young ones. But the Guardians can use Game 1 as a learning experience to now know what to expect for the rest of the series. Whether they’re able to make the adjustment will determine if they can find their way back to the World Series for the first time since 2016.

“It’s just an adjustment that we're going to have to make for the games moving forward,” Naylor said. “There's more baseball to be played, more games to be had.”