CLEVELAND — Even when they looked to be dead in the water, the Guardians clawed their way back and delivered another classic postseason showdown.
But not even "Guards Ball" was enough to save them Friday night. Now, for the second straight round in these playoffs, they face the prospect of seeing the dream slip away.
After rallying from a 6-2 deficit to tie things up in the eighth inning, Cleveland's all-world closer Emmanuel Clase suffered another mystifying meltdown, surrendering a pair of runs in the ninth as the New York Yankees held on to win 8-6 in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The victory puts the Bronx Bombers up 3-1 in the best-of-seven tilt, giving them a chance to clinch the AL pennant during Game 5 Saturday night at Progressive Field.
The Guards have been carried by their bullpen all season long. This time, however, it was their two top relievers who let them down.
Before Clase came on in the ninth, Cade Smith took the mound in the top of the sixth with the Yanks leading only 3-2. The rookie sensation had been lights out for most of the postseason, but after a walk and a hit to start the inning, he faced Giancarlo Stanton with one out and first base open, and served up a three-run homer to the bleachers that gave New York a three-run lead.
The home run was Stanton's third of the series and 15th of his playoff career, tying him with Babe Ruth and teammate Aaron Judge on the all-time list. He took advantage of a 94 mph fastball up in the zone, which was 2 mph slower than Smith's average fastball this year.
It was also only the second homer Smith has allowed in his big-league career, with the first coming way back on June 18.
After the Guardians fought back to make it a 6-6 game, manager Stephen Vogt called upon Clase to maintain the tie, one night after he gave up back-to-back homers to Judge and Stanton. The Yankees didn't exactly use the long ball this time, but instead peppered Clase with bleeders and liners before regaining the lead on an Alex Verdugo grounder that plated Jon Berti. Gleyber Torres then added an insurance run with a single to center before Clase got out of a bases-loaded jam.
Clase has now yielded eight earned runs in seven innings this postseason after giving up only five during the entire regular season. He's also been responsible for two of Cleveland's playoff losses, matching his total for all of 2024.
Clase and Smith's off nights were compounded by the struggles of Gavin Williams, who looked rusty making his first start since Sept. 22. The former first-round pick walked Torres to begin the game before allowing a two-run home run to Juan Soto, and Austin Wells followed with a solo blast in the second that gave New York an early 3-1 cushion.
Yet in shades of Thursday's back-and-forth battle that ended with David Fry's walk-off home run, the Guardians refused to quit, unleashing an offensive onslaught in the seventh against Game 3 loser Clay Holmes that closed the gap to 6-5. With the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Yanks manager Aaron Boone turned to Mark Leiter Jr., who had just been added to the ALCS roster following an injury to Ian Hamilton.
Leiter faced pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel, a Game 3 hero who had tied things up in the ninth. With a 1-1 count, the big man called "Big Christmas" nearly did it again, sending a long fly ball to left field that made more than 35,000 people jump out of their seats. Unfortunately, the drive died on the warning track and settled into the glove of Verdugo.
Fry was the one who wound up tying things up on an infield single off Leiter to score Bo Naylor. José Ramírez and Josh Naylor also recovered from their recent slumps by combining for four hits (two of them doubles) and five RBIs, and Steven Kwan scored three times.
The Yanks got four innings from rookie Luis Gil, in action for the first time since Sept. 28. Instead of closer Luke Weaver, Boone turned to Tommy Kahnle to get the last three outs in the ninth, and after Noel and Andrés Giménez got aboard to bring the winning run to the plate, he retired both Bo Naylor and Brayan Rocchio to earn his first postseason save since 2017.
The Guards now face their largest deficit in a seven-game series since the 1995 World Series, when the Cleveland Indians fell behind 3-1 to the Atlanta Braves before falling in six games. The club has not come back from a deficit to win a seven-game series since 1997, when the Tribe took the ALCS from the Baltimore Orioles after initially losing the opener.
Now firmly on the edge of a metaphorical cliff, the Guardians will send Tanner Bibee to the hill in Game 5 on three days rest after he threw only 39 pitches in Game 2. The Yankees will counter with Carlos Rodón, who got the win while going six innings in Game 1 with nine strikeouts.
