Yankees vs Indians Game 1

The 1948 Cleveland Indians battled the 1927 New York Yankees in Game 1 of the first semifinal matchup. Hoping to neutralize the powerful lefty bats in the home team's lineup, Lou Boudreau started southpaw Gene Bearden. Miller Huggins countered with Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt.

Babe Ruth gave the Yankees an early lead with a solo blast in the bottom of the first. Indians third baseman Ken Keltner evened things up when he went deep in the top of the second. Cleveland took the lead in the top of the fifth when Bearden singled to drive in Wally Judnich. An inning later, Joe Dugan delivered a two-out single to score Lou Gehrig, who slid home just ahead of Jim Hegan's tag at the plate.

The game remained tied heading into the bottom of the eighth. Ruth led off that frame by drawing a walk. Sam Zoldak, pitching in relief of Bearden, retired Gehrig and Bob Meusel without allowing the runner to advance. But Tony Lazzeri drilled a deep drive to the wall in center, allowing the Babe to come around to score the go-ahead run. Yankee reliever Wilcy Moore allowed a leadoff double to Keltner in the top of the ninth, before rebounding to retire the next three batters and preserve the narrow win for the Bombers. The teams will head to Cleveland for the second game in this series.

1927 Yankees 3, 1948 Indians 2

Next up will be Game 1 of the other semifinal: 1934 Cardinals vs. 1934 Stars.