The first game matched the prime stars for both squads in Gerrit Cole and Shane Bieber, with the latter having won the pitching Triple Crown for the 2020 season. The Yankees took an early lead when Aaron Judge hit a home run on the first pitch he saw from Bieber, who had allowed the leadoff hitter in DJ LeMahieu to get on base with a single. Luke Voit increased the lead to three in the third inning on a double. The Indians countered with a run on a José Ramírez double that made it 3-1, but a Carlos Santana strike out culled the chance for more with runners on the corner. The Yankees responded with a Brett Gardner RBI double and a subsequent LeMahieu RBI single to make it 5–1. Josh Naylor made it 5–2 on a home run, while Gleyber Torres responded with a home run of his own to make it 7–2. The Yankees blew the game further open with runs driven in by Urshela, Torres, and Gardner to make for four runs in the seventh before finishing with a Giancarlo Stanton home run. The Indians closed the scoring with a Tyler Naquin RBI single that made the final score 12–3. Cole struck out thirteen batters in seven innings while allowing two runs on six hits. He was the second pitcher to throw thirteen strikeouts with zero walks and the first since Tom Seaver did so in Game 1 of the 1973 National League Championship Series. Bieber allowed seven runs on nine hits while striking out seven with two walks that saw him last 4 2/3 innings.