The Cleveland Guardians are on the board. Thursday evening at Progressive Field, the Guardians won an instant classic over the New York Yankees to steal Game 3 of the ALCS (CLE 7, NYY 5 in 10 innings). Cleveland got a game-tying homer in the ninth and a walk-off homer in the tenth after the Yankees hit back-to-back homers to take the lead in the eighth. Sheesh.
After Game 3, the Yankees still hold a 2-1 series lead in the ALCS, though they were one strike -- one dinky strike -- away from a commanding 3-0 series lead. Instead, the Guardians have life heading into Friday's Game 4. This postseason has been loaded with dramatic late-inning home runs and Game 3 added four -- four! -- to the ledger.
Here now are four takeaways from Cleveland's Game 3 win.
1. The Yankees got to Clase
In 74 1/3 innings during the regular season, Emmanuel Clase allowed two home runs and five earned runs. In 5 2/3 postseason innings, Clase has allowed three homes and six earned runs. The best closer in baseball has had a rough October.
With a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning and Juan Soto at first base, Clase entered to face Aaron Judge. The best closer in the game vs. the best power hitter in the game. Four pitches later, the game was tied. Seven pitches after that, the Yankees had the lead. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs off Clase to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 Yankees lead.
Clase got ahead in the count 0-2 against both Judge and Stanton, it should be noted. Clase held hitters to a .074/.113/.074 line after getting ahead in the count 0-2 during the regular season. Zero extra-base hits! Then he gave up back-to-back homers by Judge and Stanton. Remarkable. Clase could not put Judge and Stanton away.
The Yankees added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a Gleyber Torres sacrifice fly after Cleveland botched a rundown and was unable to tag Anthony Volpe out between second and third. Volpe bumped into José Ramírez as he received the throw, and Ramírez dropped the ball. Volpe was safe at third and Torres got him in with a two-strike sacrifice fly.
2. Big Christmas in October
That insurance run proved to be rather important. In the ninth inning, Jhonkensy Noel -- Big Christmas -- came off the bench to sock a pinch-hit, game-tying, two-run home run off Yankees closer Luke Weaver. The bat flip says it all:
Without the insurance run in the top of the ninth, Noel's homer would have been a walk-off, though I suppose the insurance run only delayed the inevitable for New York.
As for Weaver, he was one strike away from ending the game. He got ahead in the count 0-2 on Lane Thomas, but Thomas worked the count back full, then banged a double off the top of the wall in left field. Thomas has had a tremendous postseason after a pretty rough showing with Cleveland following his trade from the Nationals at the deadline.
As good as Weaver has been this postseason, the Guardians have gotten to him a bit in the ALCS. Ramírez hit a solo home run in Game 2 in New York, then Thomas hit a ball off the top of the wall and Noel hit the game-tying homer in Game 3. No closer is safe this postseason. Clase, Weaver, Devin Williams, Edwin Díaz, they've all blown games.
3. Fry cooked the Yankees
The Guardians are not really a power-hitting team. They slugged 185 home runs during the regular season, their most since 2021, but also only the 13th most in baseball. In Games 1 and 2, Cleveland hit two home runs, both solo shots when down by four runs: Brayan Rocchio in the sixth inning in Game 1, and José Ramírez in the ninth inning in Game 2. Too little, too late.
In Game 3, Cleveland clocked three home runs, and all three were meaningful. Kyle Manzardo got the Guardians on the board with a two-run homer in the third inning. Noel tied it with his two-run shot in the ninth. And, in the tenth inning, Dave Fry sent everyone home with a two-out, two-strike, two-run walk-off home run. Take it away, David:
The Yankees surrendered four home runs in six games this postseason before allowing three in Game 3. Their starter (Clarke Schmidt) and two best relievers (Weaver and Clay Holmes) each gave one up. Clase (two), Weaver, and Holmes all gave up home runs in two-strike counts. That's some hitting by the guys at the plate.
It is really, really hard to string together singles and walks against postseason pitching. To win, you have to hit the ball out of the park, and you need to do it with men on base. Manzardo did it in the third, Noel did it in the ninth, and Fry did it in the tenth. The Guardians got the big swings in Game 3 that weren't there for them in Games 1 and 2.
4. Boyd went five innings
For the first time since Sept. 6, left-hander Matthew Boyd completed five innings in a start. He went 4 2/3 innings and two innings in his two ALDS starts, in part because Cleveland's bullpen is so good, and manager Stephen Vogt wants to get into it as soon as possible.
In Game 3, Boyd held the Yankees to one run in his five innings, and he retired the final 10 batters he faced after Jose Trevino's RBI single in the second inning. Only two of those 10 batters hit the ball out of the infield. Boyd finished his evening with four strikeouts, three walks, and two hits allowed in five innings. He threw 75 pitches.
Boyd is a spin rate monster and he threw only 35 fastballs among his 75 pitches in Game 3. He fed the Yankees a steady diet of changeups, sliders, and curveballs, and they had a hard time squaring anything up.
Lefties have given the Yankees trouble all year. They went 73-45 against righty starters during the regular season, the best record in baseball, but only 21-23 against lefty starters. Is it possible the Yankees were happy to see Boyd out of the game and the bullpen getting involved in the sixth inning? Seems farfetched, given how good the bullpen is, but maybe?
5. Up next
We have ourselves a series. The Yankees still have a 2-1 lead in the ALCS, but Cleveland's momentum-swinging Game 3 win makes the series more competitive. Historically, teams with a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven have gone on to win the series 70% of the time. New York is still in good position. The Guardians just have an opening now. Luis Gil and Gavin Williams are the scheduled starters for Game 4 on Friday.
