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Yankees vs. Guardians score: David Fry hits walk-off home run, Cleveland saves season in dramatic Game 3 win

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.

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Live updates
 

Make it first and third after a steal. 

 

Kwan up with two on and two outs.

 

Giving up a double and a walk to Austin Hedges is the surest sign it's not the Yankees' night.

 

Guardians extend lead

The Guardians have gotten an RBI single to give them a 3-1 lead with one out in the sixth. 

Lane Thomas was on second base and stole third, forcing the Yankees to bring the infield in. Andrés Giménez then punched a single up the middle to score an insurance run. 

The Guardians now have a two-run lead with three innings to go and some fresh, studly bullpen arms waiting in the wings. 

 

Guardians now lead 3-1 on an Andrés Giménez single. They still have a runner on with one out here in the sixth, meaning additional chances to widen their advantage.

 

Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton leaves game with injury

Ian Hamilton has been replaced with Tim Mayza on the mound for the Yankees, who trail 2-1 in the sixth with a runner on second. Hamilton just covered first base on a groundout in a close play that was initially ruled an infield hit but overturned for the first out of the inning. Hamilton isn't one of the main leverage arms in the Yankees' bullpen, but if he wasn't important at all, he wouldn't have been in the game right now. 

Hamilton threw one pitch as a warmup to see if he could stay in the game, but it sailed to the backstop. If the Yankees end up having to replace Hamilton on the ALCS roster -- which would make him ineligible for the World Series, if they made it -- Mark Leiter Jr. is very likely the guy getting tapped in.

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Hamilton appeared to hurt himself. He's now out of the game. 

 

You might wonder what makes Smith's fastball so good—he threw eight that half-inning—and it's a combination of the velocity, the rising action, and the deep release point he achieves. His release point is more than 7 1/3 feet from the pitching rubber, making the heater play nearly 2 mph hotter than the radar gun says.

 

Only 10 pitches from Smith is big

The Guardians can send him back out there to get a few outs or maybe pitch all of the seventh. That would enable them to use Hunter Gaddis in the eighth and Emmanuel Clase in the ninth. Tim Herrin would be very fresh for Game 4 while Gaddis and Clase would be in great shape. 

 

10 pitches, 10 strikes in that 1-2-3 inning for Smith.

 

Cade Smith strikes out Judge. Two down in the sixth.

 

We're through five. Still 2-1 Guardians.

 

Boyd completes five innings

For the first time since Sept. 6, 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 they want 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 season. They went 73-45 against righty starters during the regular season, the best record in baseball, but only 21-23 against lefty starters. Lefties who can spin the ball like Boyd especially gave New York fits. He pitched very well, completed five innings, and the Yankees had no answer.

 

Well, Boyd did indeed get through five. Guards maintain a 2-1 lead.

 

We're through four innings. Remains 2-1 Guards.  

 

Austin Hedges with a double. It's the Guards' night.

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2-1 Guardians in the fourth

The Yankees have not had a baserunner since Trevino's RBI single in the second. Boyd has thrown 67 pitches. I imagine Stephen Vogt is itching to go to the bullpen already.

 

Nice stretch by Berti on the final out. This is his third career start at 1B. The other two were in the ALDS. Before this postseason, he played only three career innings at first base and they were all in spring training in 2021.

 

Ramírez steals second with two outs and is still safe after a review. The Guards have a runner in scoring position.

 

Manzardo hits a two-run homer

Kyle Manzardo, in his first MLB postseason, just launched a 3-1 sinker that caught too much plate. He turned it around with a 108 mph home run that traveled 395 feet. Take a look:

Guardians now lead 2-1 in the third. It's their first lead of the ALCS.

 

Worth noting again: Boyd hasn't pitched into the fifth in more than a month.

 

Three ground balls for Boyd against the 2-3-4 hitters in the third inning.

 

We're through two innings. Yankees maintain a 1-0 lead.

 

Yankees take a 1-0 lead

Jose Trevino drove in the game's first run with a single through the drawn in infield in the second inning.

Anthony Volpe walked and Alex Verdugo doubled to set that rally up. Trevino drove in the run but also sabotaged the inning by getting picked off first base. That turned a potential big-ish inning into just one run.

Trevino is in the Game 3 lineup because the Guardians have a lefty on the mound, and also because starting catcher Austin Wells has had a dreadful postseason: 2 for 24 (.083) with 10 strikeouts. Wells could come off the bench once Boyd is out of the game.

 

It looked like the umpire called obstruction on Rocchio at second base, but Verdugo slid in safe anyway. Didn't matter.

 

Verdugo with a Baltimore chopper over Naylor for a double. The Yankees have runners on second and third with one out.

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One inning, four runners left on base

The story of this series has been poor baseball. There wasn't sloppiness in the first, so that is good. Both offenses are likely frustrated right now, though. 

 

Like the Yankees, the Guardians stranded two runners in the first inning.

 

Jon Berti living dangerously at first base with that short hop scoop. Nice play.

 

Guardians have someting cooking here. Two on, nobody out, middle of the order up.

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