Bauer baffles Judge, Yankees in ALDS opener

Trevor Bauer made Aaron Judge look silly, and he made his manager look like a genius.

Named a surprise starter for Game 1, Bauer chopped Judge and New York’s other big bats down to size, and Jay Bruce drove in three runs as the Cleveland Indians began chasing their first World Series title in 69 years with a 40 win over the Yankees on the Thursday night in the opener of the AL Division Series.

Bauer struck out Judge three times , twice getting the MVP candidate looking. He allowed just two hits in 6 2-3 innings before manager Terry Francona, who chose to start the right-hander over ace Corey Kluber, turned to baseball’s best bullpen, using Andrew Miller and closer Cody Allen to finish the three-hitter.

Allen came in with two on and two outs in the eighth to face Judge, who struck out for the fourth time and angrily snatched at his bat frustration, and finished for a save.

Bruce connected for a two-run homer in the fourth off Sonny Gray and added a sacrifice fly in the fifth as the Indians began a journey to try and end the majors’ longest Series title drought.

Eyebrows were raised when Francona said he was going with Bauer instead of Kluber, and the eccentric right-hander, perhaps best known for slicing a pinkie open while repairing a drone during last year’s post-season, delivered a performance that started October just right for the Indians.

“Trevor from pitch one, he had his breaking ball early, and he had a good one,” Francona said. “He had his life on his fastball. He pitched in. I thought he pitched a terrific game.”

Kluber, an 18-game winner during the regular season, will start Game 2 today against CC Sabathia.

Coming off their win over Minnesota in the wild-card game Tuesday, when Judge homered in his playoff debut, the Yankees came in with momentum.

Bauer stopped the Bronx Bombers in their tracks.

He struck out eight and took a nohitter into the sixth before Aaron Hicks doubled with one out. It was the longest no-hit bid by a Cleveland pitcher in the post-season, bettering Hall of Famers Bob Feller (1948) and Early Wynn (1954), who both went four innings.

Bauer improved to 3-0 this season against the Yankees.

“His curveball was really good,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s as good as we’ve seen it, and he’s been pitching better. You look at his second half, and he had better command. We didn’t get many free base runners, which we have in the past off of him, and he was really good.”

Taking the mound to his usual thundering warm-up music, “The Pursuit of Vikings,” an intimidating song by Swedish metal band Amon Amarth, Bauer didn’t mess around.

He struck out Judge in the first watching a curveball before fanning Gary Sanchez with a pitch way off the plate. Bauer, who is 11-1 in his last 14 starts, struck out Judge again in the fourth, but the All-Star reached on a wild pitch. Bauer, though, regrouped by getting Sanchez to bounce into a double play before he freezing Didi Gregorius for his sixth strikeout.

Bauer got help from All-Star-second base-man-turned-centre fielder Jason Kipnis, who made a diving catch to rob Chase Headley in the third. As Kipnis slowly got to his feet, Bauer raised both arms above his head, pumped his fist and screamed to salute his teammate.

“All I’ve been hearing is that I shouldn’t be playing centre field,” Kipnis said. “That was a fun one to run down and be a part of. I had a good time. I’m very happy.”

Bruce gave the Indians a 30 lead in the fourth with a towering homer to right.