Though the New York Yankees haven't necessarily torn the cover off the ball so far in the 2024 MLB Postseason, their offense has forced opposing pitchers to work. First against the Kansas City Royals and now the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Championship Series, they continue to draw walks, work counts and force pitchers to make mistakes.

Guardians pitcher Joey Cantillo did exactly that in Game 1 of the ALCS on Monday, and he did it at a historic rate. With four wild pitches in 0.1 innings of work, Cantillo set a playoff record for the most wild pitches in a relief appearance. Two of them allowed New York runners to score.

The Yankees got on the board first with a Juan Soto home run to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Then, after starting pitcher Alex Cobb walked the bases loaded, Cantillo came in to try and get out of the two-out jam. Facing Anthony Rizzo, he threw a wild pitch that allowed Aaron Judge to score. He eventually walked Rizzo. Then, he threw a wild pitch that allowed Giancarlo Stanton to score. After getting Alex Verdugo to strike out, Cantillo came back out to pitch the fourth inning. Gleyber Torres led off with a walk, then advanced to third on two wild pitches thrown to Soto.

Once Cantillo walked Soto, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt pulled his reliever and brought in Pedro Avila. Cantillo's final line: 0.1 innings, 1 run, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 4 wild pitches.

Joey Cantillo's struggles continue for the Guardians

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Joey Cantillo (54) pitched during the third inning against the New York Yankees in game one of the ALCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium.
Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Cantillo was put into a tough spot on Monday. Cobb did not give the Guardians the length they needed, and the rookie came in to face a potent Yankees offense in a playoff game at a packed Yankee Stadium. He's a starting pitcher, not a high-leverage reliever, but he entered in as high-leverage a situation as exists in the opening innings of a game.

It could have gone better. Cantillo is a 24-year-old rookie who had nine Major League appearances to his name before Monday. In that time, he amassed a 4.89 ERA and 1.293 WHIP. His worst outing, coincidentally, came against the Yankees on August 21. He started that game, going four innings but allowing seven runs and three walks.

To make matters worse on Monday, by only getting one out, he failed to even eat up innings. He couldn't save the rest of the Cleveland bullpen ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday. Fortunately for Cantillo, Avila picked him up, firing 2.2 clean innings before giving way to Erik Sabrowski.