The Yankees didn't do everything right in their 6-3 victory over the Guardians in Game 2 of the ALCS, but that didn't seem to matter: Whatever the Yankess' missteps were, the Guardians were even worse.

The Yankees now take a comfortable two-game lead back to Cleveland against a team that simply appears overwhelmed by the AL East juggernaut. However, the Guardians had the best home record in the American League; They're going to need every bit of Progressive Field magic if they want to save this series from the brink.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's win:

1. The monster stirs

After starting the day batting .133 in these playoffs, Aaron Judge hit his first home run of the postseason, a two-run, 414-foot shot off Hunter Gaddis' letter-high fastball in the seventh. Before that, Judge hit two more balls 323 feet, a sacrifice fly in the second and a flyout in the fifth; However, it was a testament to his playoff struggles that Juan Soto intentionally loaded the bases with one out in the second to bring Judge into the game.

“With Aaron, it’s always a matter of time,” Aaron Boone said. “Tonight he had some good swings. (He had) a big sac fly to extend the lead a little bit when he was behind in the count against a pretty tough customer in (Cade) Smith and was able to fend it off. The pop-up that they dropped (in the first), I thought he made a great swing too. It’s so close to a home run, but it’s definitely good to see him put one down and really give us a cushion there.”

2. The bullpen should be the Guardians' strength; it's the Yankees

Not surprisingly, the Yankees bullpen is doing well; The unit had the sixth-best ERA in the majors this season. But it might be surprising to see the Guardians' replacements replaced, especially since they were at an MLB high. Part of this has to do with the starters putting a lot of strain on the relief corps. Alex Cobb pitched just 2 2/3 innings on Monday and Tanner Bibee, the team's star, lasted 1 1/3 innings on Tuesday, meaning manager Stephen Vogt had to use seven more pitchers to finish the game.

“These guys have pitched a lot all year,” Vogt said. “We didn’t overwhelm anyone today either. We didn't overwhelm anyone yesterday. With the day off, our bullpen should get back to full strength. We’ll regroup and get it done.”

However, the Yankees' relievers appear to be getting stronger: Clay Holmes, Tim Hill, Tommy Kahnle and Luke Weaver combined for 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball. The unit has a 0.77 ERA in 23 1/3 postseason innings.

“We have a lot of confidence,” said Holmes, who didn't allow a run in these playoffs and bailed out Gerrit Cole in a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fifth (Holmes allowed an inherited runner). score on a forceout). “There were definitely some ups and downs, but I think it prepared us for this opportunity and tested us. It was fun to see how the boys performed and passed the ball.”

3. At some point, all those missed opportunities could come back to haunt them

That might not happen against the Guardians, whose pitching isn't particularly difficult, but despite the two-game lead, the Yankees continue to leave runs on the basepaths. Her situational hitting struggled and her baserunning came into play on Tuesday. In the postseason, they are 8 of 52 with runners in scoring position, including 0 of 7 in Game 1. Tuesday was little better: They were 2 of 10 with men on second and third, giving up valuable runs the basepaths against a withered Guardians bullpen. Then in the sixth, two runners were picked off second base – first Jazz Chisholm Jr. (costing them a run) and then Anthony Rizzo to end the inning.

“It's about winning. We are in the off-season. I mean, things like that are going to happen,” Boone said of the baserunning blunders. “We won't be aggressive in certain situations, but we try to protect ourselves from (mistakes) as much as possible. Then Rizz was reading some strange reading about what he thought would have ultimately stalled. I feel like we’re playing pretty well overall.”

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams. She started as an intern at Newsday in 2007.