Joey Cantillo’s wild Guardians outing puts Yankees in control of ALCS Game 1

Forget the long ball. 

The Yankees have discovered a new offensive weapon: the wild pitch. 

At least when Guardians left-hander Joey Cantillo is on the mound. 

Cantillo became the second player in MLB postseason history to throw four wild pitches in one appearance Monday night, and his lack of control over a span of four batters allowed the Yankees to take command of Game 1 of the ACLS on the way to a 5-2 victory. 

“That’s baseball,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “You show up to the park, there’s always going to be … a chance of something you’ve never seen before, whether it’s playoffs or Opening Day.” 

Rick Ankiel infamously threw five wild pitches in the same inning in Game 1 of the 2000 ALDS when he developed a case of the yips that never went away. 

Cantillo entered this Game 1 with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning to try to keep the Guardians in a manageable 1-0 hole. He spiked a ball that allowed Aaron Judge to score and then fired one to the backstop that allowed the slow-footed Stanton to score. 

Both runs were charged to starter Alex Cobb. 

“He looked a little sped up at first, but then it just looked like he was having a hard time finding the strike zone,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’ve seen Joey the last month, month and a half, be great, so it was very uncharacteristic of him.” 

All the Yankees needed was good plate discipline. 

Cantillo’s wildness continued into the fourth when Gleyber Torres led off with a walk and then advanced 180 feet on two more wild pitches with Juan Soto in the box before the 24-year-old rookie mercifully was pulled. Torres eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Judge. 

“I don’t try to be extra patient,” Soto said, “but definitely try to get my pitch because he’s trying to nibble.” 

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Cantillo’s struggles, which happened on two fastballs, a curveball and a changeup. He threw four wild pitches in 38 ²/₃ regular-season innings. 

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Making the second postseason appearance of his young career after working one clean inning in the ALDS, Cantillo could not find the strike zone. He threw just seven of 21 pitches for strikes, walking three of the four batters he faced in one-third of an inning. 

The question becomes whether Vogt will go back to Cantillo during the series. He has two other left-handers, Tim Herrin and Erik Sabrowski, in the bullpen to call on to face the five left-handed batters in the Yankees’ regular starting lineup. 

Ankiel’s wildness turned out to be no laughing matter when he threw five pitches past the catcher (only two wild pitches) in one inning in Game 2 of the 2000 NLCS against the Mets. He added two more wild pitches in his final appearance of that postseason, and ultimately gave up pitching to become a hitter.