CLEVELAND — Following the Guardians' second straight loss in the American League Championship Series Tuesday night, manager Stephen Vogt was asked what his struggling team had to change going forward.
"Absolutely nothing. We just need to keep being us. This is who we are," Vogt responded. "We don't quit; we keep fighting."
Never were those words truer than Thursday evening at Progressive Field.
With Cleveland down to its final out in the bottom of the ninth and staring a seemingly insurmountable 0-3 series deficit in the face, Vogt's squad fought back in the biggest way possible, with Jhonkensy Noel tying the game with a towering two-run home run to left field. Then in the 10th, David Fry walked it off with his own two-run blast to the bleachers, giving the Guards a stunning 7-5 Game 3 win over the New York Yankees.
An incredible battle filled with fever-pitch emotions on both sides. We can assume the Guardians would've preferred a nice leisurely victory, but for now, they're just happy to be back in this ALCS, still trailing the best-of-seven series two games to one, but now very much alive.
For most of the game, it looked like that would always be the case ... until it didn't ... and then suddenly did again.
Everything was going according to plan for Cleveland in the eighth inning, with the team leading 3-1 and Emmanuel Clase on for a four-out save. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge came up with a man on representing the tying run, and down in the count 1-2, he muscled a 99 mph cutter on the outside corner just over the right-field fence.
Judge's second homer in as many games tied things up at 3 and handed Clase his first blown save in 36 chances.
Clase still had an opportunity to preserve the tie, and got cleanup hitter Giancarlo Stanton down 1-2 the very next at-bat. This time, though, he hung a slider in the middle of the plate, and Stanton hit it over the wall in center to put New York up 4-3.
After allowing just five earned runs and two homers during the regular season, Clase has surrendered seven runs and two homers in only 6 2/3 innings this postseason. It was a crushing blow for the Guards and the more than 32,000 fans at the stadium, especially after a José Ramírez error helped give New York a crucial insurance run in the bottom of the ninth.
But this group had already come from behind to win 44 times in 2024. Truly, this is who they are, and they found themselves right back in their element with the heart of the order due up.
"We don't quit; we keep fighting."
With Yanks closer Luke Weaver trying for his own four-out save after quelling an eighth-inning rally, Ramírez reached on a leadoff error, only for Josh Naylor to follow and ground into a double play. That left Lane Thomas — one of the heroes of the ALDS against the Tigers — as the Guardians' last hope, and the trade deadline acquisition worked the count before launching a two-out double off the wall and keeping the game going.
That brought Noel up as a pinch-hitter for Daniel Schneemann. After a hot start to his MLB career, the 23-year-old rookie had been in a bitter slump, with only one hit in the playoffs and without a home run since Aug. 30.
He only needed to see two pitches from Weaver, the second being a hanging changeup. He knew as soon as he hit it, flipping his bat before beginning his slow trot around the bases. The crowd knew, too, even before the ball landed in the seats 404 feet from home plate.
Tied at 5, in an instant. Thanks to the man they call "Big Christmas," it was now "Christmas in October" at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario.
Their hearts beating again, the Guardians turned to long man Pedro Avila to start extra innings. Helped out by a Gold Glove-level play from second baseman Andrés Giménez (and a nice stretch job by Naylor at first), he managed to retire the side by striking out Anthony Volpe with two runners on. As Cleveland came to bat in the bottom of the 10th, Bo Naylor got things started with his first hit of the postseason, and advanced to second on Brayan Rocchio's sacrifice bunt. Steven Kwan, whose 12-game playoff hitting streak came to an end, followed with a ground out but still managed to get Naylor to third.
A week ago tonight, Fry rescued the Guards' season with a seventh-inning homer in Game 4 in Detroit, a hit that proved to be the game-winner as the club wound up taking the division series in five. While that previous shot barely cleared the fence, this one off Clay Holmes had just a little more juice on it, and like Noel before him, Fry stood and watched his masterpiece as those at Progressive Field lost their collective minds.
Fry, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, would later describe the moment as "a blur." That could also be the perfect way to describe this entire season, a year in which a former "player to be named later" has helped carry a team most saw as fringe contenders, at best, much less a group that would be competing for a pennant.
Entering Thursday, the Guardians had not held a lead in the ALCS, a streak that ended with rookie Kyle Manzardo belted a two-run home run in the third that made it a 2-1 ballgame. On the mound, Matthew Boyd went five strong innings, the longest start by a Cleveland pitcher this postseason.
Despite his tying homer, Judge struck out three times for the Yankees, and fellow star Juan Soto went hitless. Both teams emptied their bullpens, with New York utilizing six relievers and Cleveland countering with six. Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, and Hunter Gaddis all pitched scoreless ball for the Guards before Clase gave up the lead.
Holmes, the Yanks' one-time closer before being demoted in September, had not allowed a run in his playoff career before Fry took him deep. Weaver, a former starter, also blew his first save opportunity of the season.
With the Yankees still leading the series 2-1, the Guardians will have a shot to even things up in Game 4 Friday night back at the corner. Gavin Williams will make his first start for Cleveland since Sept. 22, while rookie Luis Gil will toe the rubber for New York in his first action since Sept. 28.