2024-10-18 09:50:02
CLEVELAND – A crazy, October playoff game – marked by dramatic home runs and wild swings – ended with one more powerful swing by David Fry.
And just like that, the Yankees have seen the Cleveland Guardians spark to life in the AL Championship Series.
With a two-run homer off Clay Holmes in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Guardians’ David Fry dealt the Yankees a 7-5 Game 3 loss before a gone-mad sellout crowd at Progressive Field.
The place had been dead quiet in the eighth inning, and again in the ninth, while the Yanks showed their muscle.
Against Emmanuel Clase, the class of MLB’s closers in 2024, the Yankees flaunted their power in a late playoff comeback.
In the eighth inning, Aaron Judge’s game-tying, two-run homer off Clase was followed by Giancarlo Stanton’s go-ahead shot, and the Yankees were seemingly on their way toward taking a 3-0 series lead.
But with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Guardians tied it with a dramatic two-run homer off Yankees closer Luke Weaver.
You recall again the Yankees’ lousy baserunning and missed opportunities to cash in runs, and perhaps a chance to bring in Holmes for the last out after the Thomas double.
Yes, Holmes has been used as much as Weaver in these playoffs and Weaver has been brilliant.
But Weaver did mention the difficulty of ramping back up for the ninth in Game 1, when he walked the leadoff hitter before completing a five-out save. Boone said before the game that he was mindful of Weaver’s increased workload.
Anyway, on we go…
Lane Thomas’ two-out double was followed by a no-doubt, two-run homer by pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel off Weaver, and we’re tied again as Progressive Field is bedlam.
Aaron Boone might have to stick with Jon Berti or Oswaldo Cabrera at first base after Rizzo makes an error to open the ninth, but Weaver quickly gets Josh Naylor on a comebacker/double play. One out to go.
This time, a bad baserunning decision worked for the Yanks as Anthony Volpe moved from first to third on a bobbled, right-side grounder.
When the throw came to third, Volpe – approaching third base – knocked into Jose Ramirez, who dropped the throw for an error.
That put runners at second and third, and now Gleyber Torres’ sac fly has made it a 5-3 Yankees’ lead.
Volpe was on base due to another walk, his second of the game and eighth this postseason. Same Volpe who at one stretch of 40 games (172 plate appearances) this summer walked four times.
Luke Weaver has finished every Yankees game in these playoffs, and now he’s seeking a four-out save to give the Yankees a 3-0 ALCS lead.
He enters with runners at first and second, two out in the eighth, Yanks ahead 4-3 and David Fry coming up…
…and Fry can’t hold up on Weaver’s 1-2, 97-mph fastball off the outside part of the plate. We go to the ninth.
Tommy Kahnle is still out there in the eighth, trying to bridge this 4-3 lead to the Yankees’ closer.
At first base, Anthony Rizzo is out there for Berti defensively, but he just made an awkward pass at Will Brennan’s grounder toward the line, which goes as a one-out double.
Giancarlo Stanton has just untied this game with a homer to center off Clase, it’s 4-3 Yankees, and the Yanks have just survived a Cleveland replay challenge about Stanton not touching first base (he did).
Players from the Yankees dugout had just spilled out to greet Judge after his game-tying homer, and they did the same for Stanton, as this crowd in Cleveland has gone from wild cheers to stunned silence.
On a 1-2 pitch, Judge rifles one the other way, just over the right field wall and it’s a 3-3 game here in the eighth.
It was a 99-mph cutter, and Judge sent it 356 feet – a two-iron that stunned Cleveland and ignited the Yankee dugout.
Hunter Gaddis retired the first two Yanks he faced (including pinch-hitter Austin Wells, on a strikeout), but he walked Juan Soto on four pitches.
And here comes the closer, Emmanuel Clase to face Aaron Judge as the tying run here in the Yankees’ eighth.
It’s a six-out game for Cleveland as they look to build on their 3-1 lead in the last of the seventh, and Hunter Gaddis seems next in line out of the Guardians’ bullpen, with their terrific closer Clase looming.
Meanwhile, Tommy Kahnle is on for the Yanks, with a runner at first, none out…
…and he gets Jose Ramirez on a fly out, gets Josh Naylor to swing over three signature changeups (with Naylor twice losing his helmet on swings) and walks Lane Thomas before finishing the inning. Still 3-1, Cleveland.
Berti has mostly looked the part at first base, and he did so again on that final play, fielding to his right and tossing to Kahnle covering.
Lane Thomas (walk) moved to second on a right-side groundout, stole third on Mayza-Trevino and scores on an Andres Gimenez ground single up the middle with the infield in. 3-1, Cleveland. Big stolen base there.
Hamilton just covered first on a bang-bang play (Yanks get the out on a replay review) and now he’s exiting the game after a visit from an athletic trainer and Aaron Boone.
Lefty Tim Mayza on now, with Lane Thomas on second base, one out, and Cleveland up 2-1. Hamilton missed 67 team games with a lat strain this summer.
It’s another quick 1-2-3 inning with Cade Smith retiring Soto, Judge and Stanton in the sixth. Yanks still without anyone on base since the second inning.
Ian Hamilton now enters for the Yanks in the bottom of the sixth, Cleveland still up 2-1.
After a two-out, Jose Ramirez double in the fifth, Clarke Schmidt’s day is over. Tim Hill arrives and retires Josh Naylor, keeping it a 2-1 Cleveland lead.
And here comes Cade Smith out of the bullpen in the sixth for Cleveland. Matthew Boyd’s five innings was the longest start by a Guardians pitcher this postseason.
Oops…thought Cade Smith was about to enter in the fifth inning for Cleveland, but lefty starter Matthew Boyd finished up by getting the Yanks 8-9-1 hitters, starting with Alex Verdugo. Still, 2-1, Cleveland.
Good play at first base by Berti, stretching for Volpe’s quick release/bounced throw to get Lane Thomas by a hair to end the third.
If he’s safe, it’s another run as Jose Ramirez would’ve scored from second. For now, it’s 2-1, Cleveland…
…and Matthew Boyd quickly gets through the Yankees in the fourth. The lefty has retired seven straight Yanks since Jose Trevino’s RBI single.
It’s 2-1, Cleveland in the third on a two-run homer by Kyle Manzardo, and already the Yanks have cost themselves with offensive mistakes on the bases and plays that should be made defensively.
Two batters before Manzardo’s one-out homer to right off Schmidt, novice first baseman Jon Berti made a leaping attempt at Brayan Rocchio’s leadoff liner that clanged off Berti’s glove for a generously scored single.
As John Sterling would say, it was “lined like a bullet,” but it’s still a play that should be made.
OK, a bit to unpack here. But first, Jose Trevino – who started just 14 games in the second half – singles past a drawn-in infield, and it’s 1-0 Yanks in the second inning.
After Volpe’s walk, Alex Verdugo hustled a double (after an initial pause) and Trevino came through. And then the Yanks messed up on the bases again.
With runners at the corners, Trevino gets picked off first base and the Yankees lose a potential extra run. It’s 1-0 Yanks, and they’re still a nightmare on the bases.
On that Verdugo double, Boone came out to argue…something. We’ll find out later. Second time he’s been out there today, first was on the automatic strike to Soto.
Not Judge, not Soto, but Anthony Volpe, who leads off the second inning with his seventh free pass in seven games this postseason.
Cleveland opened the first with a walk and a bloop single, but Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt retired the next three batters – starting with a swinging strikeout of the dangerous Jose Ramirez on a 1-2 curveball.
Jon Berti initially looked a bit off balance in fielding Josh Naylor’s hot grounder, but Berti made the play unassisted, and Lane Thomas stranded two runners in scoring position as Schmidt got him to ground out.
Later in the game, if the Yankees have a lead, Anthony Rizzo looms as a defensive replacement at first base.
Torres opened Game 3 with a walk on a full-count pitch by Matthew Boyd, the sixth time in seven 2024 postseason games that he’s reached safely to start the Yanks off.
But the lefty starter worked around two walks in a scoreless top of the first, with help from center fielder Lane Thomas’ sliding catch on a Juan Soto liner (after Soto disputed a timer violation first strike).
Boyd struck out both Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (3-for-24 in postseason), elevated to the No. 5 spot with Austin Wells (0 for his last 19) on the bench in favor of catcher Jose Trevino.
TV: TBS, truTV
Stream: Max
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