NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto’s home run disrupted Cleveland’s pitching, which then spiraled out of control.

Soto put New York ahead in a three-run third inning, Carlos Rodón picked up his first win of the season and the Yankees beat the Guardians 5-2 on Monday night in an AL Championship Series opener in which Cleveland threw five wild pitches and nine batters walked.

Giancarlo Stanton hit his 13th home run of the season for the Yankees, who are seeking a record-tying 41st AL pennant and their first since winning the title in 2009.

“Getting the opening win is great,” Stanton said. “It’s a message in itself.”

Cleveland became the second team to throw two run-scoring wild pitches in a postseason inning and set a postseason record with a total of five runs. The Guardians’ pitchers walked six batters in a span of nine and nine total.

“They don’t hunt much,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “If I take anything away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better.”

New York batters have drawn 36 walks in five postseason games.

“They are capable of that. It’s in their DNA,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We overcame that – we hammered it.”

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. Earlier this year, teams that won the opener of a series in the 2-3-2 format won 66 of 99 times.

Soto went 7-for-11 with two home runs against Cobb. In front of a sellout crowd of 47,264 that included pop star Taylor Swift, Soto hit his first postseason home run for New York when he hit a high slider from Alex Cobb in directed the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center.

He made a circle sign with his hands toward the relievers as he circled first.

“It’s just me and the bullpen,” Soto said, smiling. “We’ll keep it to ourselves.”

Rodón rebounded from the Yankees’ only loss in the Division Series, limiting the Guardians to two singles before Brayan Rocchio’s home run in the sixth inning.

“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodón said. “I thought I did a good job tonight.”

Stanton’s home run in the seventh inning extended the lead to 5-1. Steven Kwan narrowed the Guardians’ deficit when he extended his postseason hitting streak to a team record 11 games with an RBI single in the eighth against Clay Holmes.

Luke Weaver relieved with runners on the corners. He struck out pinch-hitter Will Brennan and retired José Ramírez with a groundout. A leadoff walk followed in the ninth with three strikeouts in a row for his fourth save of the postseason.

In his first playoff appearance in 11 years, Cobb walked the bases at full speed in the third and rookie reliever Joey Cantillo threw two wild run-scoring pitches.

Cantillo had a total of four wild pitches, one shy of the record for a postseason game set by St. Louis’ Rick Ankiel in the opener of the 2000 NL Division Series against Atlanta. The only other time a team scored twice on wild pitches in a postseason inning was Minnesota against Oakland’s Tim Hudson and Ted Lilly in the 2002 AL Division Series.

“That performance obviously made the difference in the game, so that’s on me,” Cantillo said.

Cobb went 0-2 in the playoffs, making it just his fifth start in an injury-marred year. He threw 36 of 65 pitches for strikes, managed just one swing and miss, and allowed three runs, five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.

Cobb, who had hip surgery on Oct. 31, was removed because of hip tightness and back spasms.

“It’s been like that for a while, but obviously I had to have surgery and tendonitis came up every now and then,” Cobb said. “Sometimes your back gets tense too.”

Rodón threw nine strikeouts and walked nothing. He made 25 misses in 53 swings, which was the fourth-most misses in a postseason game since pitch tracking began in 2008. His throws broke so much that catcher Austin Wells had to throw three strikeouts to first place for the putouts.

“He was just in complete control of himself and his emotions,” Boone said.

Still, New York knows it was just a game. The Yankees opened the 2019 ALCS with a win at Houston, then lost three straight and were eliminated in six games.

“In our eyes, we haven’t done anything yet,” Stanton said. “We need to win three games out of six, and that’s three out of three for us.”

TRAINER ROOM

Yankees: LHP Nestor Cortes (pitching elbow strain) will pitch a second bullpen session on Wednesday and is a possibility for the World Series roster should the Yankees advance.

NEXT

Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole makes his third postseason start on Tuesday after defeating Kansas City in the deciding Division Series matchup. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA this postseason. RHP Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians. He had a 2.08 ERA with no decisions in two Division Series starts against Detroit.

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