Yankees vs. Guardians score: New York one win away from World Series after holding on for wild Game 4 victory

The New York Yankees are one win away from reaching the World Series for the first time in 15 years after holding on against the Cleveland Guardians in another wild ALCS game on Friday night. The Yankees plated two runs in the ninth inning against All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase to secure an 8-6 victory in Game 4. The Yankees coughed up a four-run lead before some clutch hitting in the ninth, and the win gives New York a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

The Yankees scored twice against Clase, the All-Star closer who has not been anywhere close to his dominant self in October. Clase allowed two runs on three hits -- including an RBI single from Gleyber Torres -- as his postseason ERA ballooned to 10.29. Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, his fourth of the playoffs, to make it 6-2 Yankees.

But Cleveland made some late-inning noise for the second night in a row. The Guardians scored three runs in the seventh inning, getting RBI doubles from José Ramírez and Josh Naylor. Then they tied the game in the eighth inning on an infield single from David Fry that couldn't be handled by reliever Mark Leiter Jr.

The Yankees will try to win their first pennant since 2009 in Saturday night's Game 5. But before that, let's break down an exciting Game 4 with some takeaways.

Yankees rally in ninth to overcome

Once again, this was a classic with a ton of action in the late innings. The Yankees had a 6-2 lead cut to 6-5 in the seventh. Then the Guardians tied it in the eighth. And the Yankees responded with a big inning in the ninth. 

The score was 6-6 heading to the ninth and Clase entered with the bottom of the Yankees' order looming. Anthony Rizzo singled. So did Anthony Volpe, getting pinch runner Jon Berti to third. Volpe stole second. After a strikeout, Alex Verdugo hit a weak grounder to short that was going to score a run anyway, but then Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio misplayed it. It was 7-6 with just one out. Gleyber Torres followed with an RBI single, making it 8-6 Yankees. Clase would escape after that, though he had to do so with the bases loaded. 

Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle worked a scoreless ninth to close things down, but not before the Guardians put two runners on base.

After the Guardians won Game 3 with a game-tying home run in the ninth and walk-off home run in the 10th, more nails were bit on Friday. But this time the Yankees got the last laugh.

Stanton comes up with another big swing

The Guardians trailed 3-2 and got to the portion of the game where they could turn things over to their big four relievers (we'll get to them in a second). In the top of the sixth, Juan Soto walked, Aaron Judge singled and then, after a sac bunt from Jazz Chisholm Jr., Giancarlo Stanton provided what proved to be necessary breathing room for his Yankees pitchers. 

That majestic blast traveled 404 feet and looked like it was about a mile in the air. 

Remember, the Yankees might not even be here without Stanton's postseason heroics. He hit an eighth-inning homer in Game 3 against the Royals that proved to be the difference. In eight playoff games this year, he is 9 for 29 with two doubles, four home runs and nine RBI. He's also walked five times compared to three strikeouts. 

A career .257/.345/.525 hitter in the regular season, Stanton is now slashing .270/.345/.667 with 15 homers and 33 RBI in 35 playoff games. 

A meltdown from Cleveland's 'pen

The Guardians had the best bullpen in baseball in the regular season and it was thought to be a major reason why they could make a run to the World Series heading into the playoffs. It was a deep bullpen, but four studs in particular stood out: Cade Smith (1.91 ERA), Tim Herrin (1.92 ERA), Hunter Gaddis (1.57 ERA) and Emmanuel Clase (0.61 ERA). 

The playoffs have been a different story. Clase has already allowed more earned runs and home runs in his five playoff outings than his 74 in the regular season. Gaddis -- who was sharp in Game 4-- just finished a three-game span where he allowed four runs on five hits and two walks in two innings. Herrin and Smith had both only allowed one run in the playoffs before Game 4, but Smith coughed up the Stanton home run, giving him three earned runs allowed in this one. And then Clase entered with a tie game and gave up two runs in the ninth.

This is absolutely not how the Guardians drew up the postseason, that's for sure. 

Soto struck first

Yes, there was some action before the Stanton homer, believe it or not.  It didn't take very long before the Yankees had a lead in Game 4. Gleyber Torres led off the game with a single against Guardians starter Gavin Williams. Williams then fell behind, 3-1, to Juan Soto and tried to sneak a high fastball by him. Big mistake. Huge. 

Unsurprisingly, Soto is having a very productive postseason. He's 8 for 28 with a double, two homers, five RBI, five runs and seven walks. 

Fun oddity: Soto joins Mike Napoli, Manny Ramirez, Kyle Schwarber, Carlos Beltran and David Justice in having hit at least two homers in a single postseason for three different teams. Might Soto make it four next year? We'll shelve that until the offseason. 

The Yankees also got some early production from catcher Austin Wells. Wells hit poorly enough down the stretch to earn a benching for Game 3 and a demotion in the lineup to the eight hole in Game 4. Entering the game, he was 2 for 26 in the playoffs after having gone 1 for his last 29 in the regular season.  He hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second. 

Guardians proving they won't go quietly

Would anyone have expected anything less after the craziness from Game 3? Of course the Guardians fought back in this one. Back-to-back doubles from Ramírez -- who is quietly getting hot, by the way -- and Naylor cut the Yankees' lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh. The Yankees were forced to turn to Mark Leiter Jr., who was just added to the ALCS roster as an injury replacement Friday afternoon. The Guardians pinch hit with Jhonkensy Noel (one of Game 3's heroes). There were two runners on base. And he sent a deep fly ball down the left-field line. Surely, many Yankees fan assumed the worst when they saw the ball off the bat, but it died on the warning track and nestled harmlessly into Alex Verdugo's glove. Leiter would strike the next hitter out to end the threat and strand two. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Bo Naylor led off with a double and then advanced to third with one out. And then with two outs, the Guardians tied the game on a funky grounder from David Fry which was misplayed, twice, by the Yankees. 

Leiter regrouped and stranded Fry at second base, which set the stage for the Yankees' ninth-inning rally.

What's next?

They'll play again Saturday evening in Cleveland for Game 5. On the mound, it's a rematch of Game 1 with Carlos Rodón going for the Yankees while Tanner Bibee starts for the Guardians.

Coming back from a 3-1 deficit is a very tall order. Teams with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven MLB series are 79-14 in winning the series. Of course, it isn't automatic. It happened in 2020 and it actually happened to Cleveland in 2016. We also just saw the Mets win Game 5 at home while facing a 3-1 deficit to stay alive against the Dodgers in the NLCS.

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Yankees 8, Guardians 6: NY takes 3-1 lead in ALCS

Another chaotic game in Cleveland. Giancarlo Stanton slugged another clutch home run, the Guardians rallied against New York's bullpen again, then the Yankees beat Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning. Alex Verdugo drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single and Gleyber Torres added an insurance run with a traditional single.

Clase has give up eight earned runs this postseason after giving up only five earned runs all regular season. Cade Smith, who has been so good all season, served up Stanton's three-run homer. The horses in Cleveland's bullpen are starting to buckle under the big workload, it seems.

Cleveland did not go down without a fight. They put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Tommy Kahnle got Brayan Rocchio to ground out to second to end the game. The two bullpens combined to allow nine runs and 22 baserunners in 11 2/3 innings. Sheesh.

New York leads the ALCS 3-1. They'll look to punch their ticket to the World Series on Saturday.

October 19, 2024, 3:37 AM
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Naylor (Bo, not Josh) flies out to center on the first pitch. Like last night, the Yankees are one out away from a win.

October 19, 2024, 3:34 AM
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Giménez pokes a single to right and Noel is nearly thrown out at second on the force. The Guards have runners at first and second with one out.

October 19, 2024, 3:33 AM
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Jhonkensy Noel works a one-out walk. Andrés Giménez is up representing the tying run.

October 19, 2024, 3:33 AM
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Kahnle gets a generous strike three call on Lane Thomas to begin the ninth.

October 19, 2024, 3:31 AM
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Yankees take an 8-6 lead to the ninth

Tommy Kahnle, not Luke Weaver, is coming in for the save. Aaron Boone indicated some relievers would be unavailable today, and Weaver's worked a lot this postseason.

October 19, 2024, 3:26 AM
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Avila is warming in the Cleveland bullpen.

 
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Soto vs. Clase is the good stuff.

October 19, 2024, 3:21 AM
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Torres extends the lead to 8-6

Line drive single back up the middle. Clase, for the second night in a row, has allowed multiple runs in a high-leverage situation.

 
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Verdugo hit a squibber that Rocchio couldn't come up with cleanly. Yankees retake the lead, 7-6, on an error.

 
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Clase strikes out Wells.

 
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There's 100.

October 19, 2024, 3:17 AM
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Clase's velocity is down. For him, that means 97-98 mph rather than 101-102.

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Volpe steals second.

 
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Volpe with a single of his own. Berti heads to third. Yankees have runners on the corners, nobody out.

 
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Rizzo gets on to begin the ninth. He'll be lifted for a pinch-runner.

 
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Here comes Clase.

 
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Leiter punches out Naylor. We're heading to the ninth. All tied at 6-6.

 
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Guardians tie the game

Fry didn't hit it hard, but Cousins and Rizzo couldn't complete the play, allowing Fry to reach and Naylor (the tying run) to score. 

The Yankees will issue an intentional walk to José Ramírez to bring up Josh Naylor.

 
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A pop-up from Kwan results in the second out.

 
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Yankees are in a tough spot pitching-wise. Presumably saving Weaver for the ninth and not wanting to use Kahnle after he threw 26 last night. That leaves Mayza and Stroman, who is really around for length purposes.

 
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Guardians have the tying run on third and the top of the order due up.

 
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Guardians open up their half of the eighth with a Bo Naylor double to right. Tying run in scoring position.

 
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We're heading to the bottom of the eighth. Yankees lead 6-5.

 
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Gaddis is in for the eighth. He'll start it off by facing Aaron Judge.

 
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Guardians rally, cut it to one

The Guardians rallied to cut into the 6-3 Yankees lead and threatened to do more damage. Ultimately, they cut the lead to 6-5 and left two runners on. There was a close call, too. 

Nine-hole hitter Brayan Rocchio walked to start this thing. Then Steven Kwan -- who is now hitting .417 in the playoffs -- singled. With one out, José Ramírez doubled home one and then Josh Naylor doubled home two. 

Just like that, it was 6-5. 

Lane Thomas drew a walk and that meant there were runners on first and second with just one out. The Yankees replaced Clay Holmes on the mound with Mark Leiter Jr., who just joined the active roster as an injury replacement on Friday. 

One of the Game 3 heroes, Jhonkensy Noel (aka Big Christmas) pinch hit and sent a drive down the left-field line. It died on the warning track for the second out. Then Leiter got Andrés Giménez to strike out swinging and end the inning. 

It was quite a scare for the Yankees while the Guardians have this right within easy striking range. 

Two innings to go. Don't you dare go anywhere.

October 19, 2024, 2:40 AM
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Leiter does his job, albeit with a close call, and keeps the Yankees up 6-5 through the seventh.

 
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Thought that was going 600 feet off the bat. TBS camerawork didn't help.

October 19, 2024, 2:47 AM
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Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh boy

October 19, 2024, 2:46 AM
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Jhonkensy Noel, aka Big Christmas, one of Game 3's heroes, is pinch hitting.

October 19, 2024, 2:45 AM
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