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Alex Verdugo knocked in the go-ahead run with a soft ground ball in the top of the ninth inning and the Yankees beat the Guardians, 8-6, in Game 4 to take control of the American League Championship Series.
The Yankees are ahead, three games to one, and can win the best-of-seven series with another victory in Game 5 Saturday night in Cleveland. Just one more victory and the Yanks will advance to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
Giancarlo Stanton homered again (yawn!), Juan Soto did, too, and Austin Wells snapped his postseason slide with a long ball of his own as the Yankees rebounded from Thursday’s epic gut punch. The Yanks endured a stunning loss the previous night. Aaron Judge and Stanton hit back-to-back homers off Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase in the eighth inning to put the Yankees ahead and then their bullpen gave up a tying homer to Jhonkensy Noel in the ninth and a walk-off blast to David Fry in the 10th.
Here are the takeaways…
-The Yankees held a four-run lead after Stanton homered in the sixth inning, but they could not hold it. In the top of the ninth, their winning rally got going against Clase when Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe both singled. With runners on first and third, Volpe stole second. One out later, Verdugo hit a bouncer that Brayan Rocchio bungled and pinch runner Jon Berti scored from third. Gleyber Torres followed with an RBI single for insurance.
-Stanton now has 15 career postseason home runs, which is tied for fourth in Yankee history with Judge and, gulp, Babe Ruth. Stanton has four homers this postseason, including three in the ALCS.
-The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning with early lightning. Torres got on base to start (again!) with a single. Torres is 4-for-5 with two doubles and three walks so far in the postseason in the first inning. Soto followed with his homer, his second of the postseason. Torres and Soto have consistently reached base in the first inning this October — Soto is now 5-for-7 with a walk and three RBI in the playoffs. Soto’s homer was clocked at 113.3 miles per hour and measured at 414 feet.
–Luis Gil, who was 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA during the regular season, got the start for the Yanks and an old bugaboo of his helped lead to a first-inning run for Cleveland. Gil walked more batters (77) than any other pitcher in the major leagues, and he walked Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan on five pitches to start. Kyle Manzardo doubled to move Kwan to third, and José Ramírez hit a sac fly to cut the Yanks lead to 2-1. Gil, in his postseason debut, allowed two runs and three hits in four innings of work. He struck out three and walked three.
-Wells had struggled mightily at the plate during the postseason and was benched in Game 3 in favor of José Trevino, though Wells entered the game in the eighth inning. Wells came into Friday’s game just 2-for-26 (.077) with 12 strikeouts in the playoffs, but his third-inning homer in Game 4 was a big swing and it traveled 407 feet. According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, Wells is the first rookie catcher with a postseason home run in Yankee history. Wells had not homered since Sept. 9 and that was his only home run in the entire month.
-The Guardians pulled within a run at 6-5 in the seventh on an RBI double by Ramírez and a two-run double by Josh Naylor. Both of the run-scoring hits came off Clay Holmes, but two of the runs were charged to Jake Cousins, who started the inning by walking Rocchio and giving up a single to Kwan. Mark Leiter Jr., who was put on the playoff roster Friday morning as an injury replacement for Ian Hamilton, came in and got the final two outs, but not without some tension. Noel entered as a pinch-hitter and smacked a scary long drive to left field, but Verdugo caught it in the corner in front of the wall. Then Leiter struck out Andrés Giménez.
-In the eighth, the Guardians tied the score at 6 when Bo Naylor, who had led off with a double, scored on a Yankee misplay at first. Naylor had advanced to third on a grounder and, after another out, David Fry hit a dribbler up the first-base line. Leiter fielded the ball and flipped it wildly toward first while on the move. Rizzo could not handle the throw and the tying run scored. Leiter was charged with a throwing error and Fry was given a single.
-In the ninth, the Guardians got the tying run on base on a one-out walk to Noel and a bloop single by Giménez against Tommy Kahnle. One out later, Rocchio grounded out to end the game.
Game MVP
The Anthonys — Rizzo and Volpe — and Verdugo. It’s not exactly sexy, getting jammed and hitting a ground ball. But putting the ball in play sometimes supersedes big damage and Verdugo got the run home that gave the Yankees the lead for good. Rizzo and Volpe started the winning rally with hits.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees and Guardians face off in Game 5 on Saturday night. First pitch is set for 8:08 p.m.
Carlos Rodon will be on the mound for New York looking to send the Yankees to the World Series while Tanner Bibee toes the rubber for Cleveland.
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