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CLEVELAND — The sixth inning arrived in Game 4 of the ALCS between the Yankees and the Guardians, and it was once again rookie right-hander Cade Smith’s turn to pitch for Cleveland.
For the third time in three games, Smith was summoned by manager Stephen Vogt to handle the monster middle of New York’s batting order: Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. It’s a tall task on paper for any reliever, but Smith’s sensational debut campaign as Cleveland’s breakout bullpen ace had instilled ample confidence that the hard-throwing 25-year-old would be up for the challenge, if even on multiple occasions.
“He’s the best strikeout reliever we have, and in that situation, I trust Cade to make pitches there,” manager Stephen Vogt said afterward. “He’s been doing it all year.”
In Game 2 in the Bronx, Smith entered in the second inning to face Judge with the bases loaded after Vogt intentionally walked Soto with first base open and one out. Smith held Judge to a sac fly before striking out Austin Wells to end the frame and coaxing a groundout from Stanton in the following inning.
In Game 3 on Thursday — a couple of innings before the unforgettable roller-coaster ride began in earnest — Smith entered with a one-run lead in the sixth and retired Soto, Judge and Stanton on 10 pitches, including a strikeout of Judge with a gnarly splitter.
On Friday in Game 4, which the Yankees eventually won 8-6, a similar assignment arose: Soto was again leading off the sixth, followed by Judge, new cleanup hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Stanton if a baserunner were to reach. This time, Cleveland trailed by a run, with Smith entering in hopes of preventing New York’s best bats from extending their lead.
That’s not what happened. Soto drew a five-pitch walk to lead off the frame. Judge followed with a quick single to left. Chisholm bunted them to second and third on a sacrifice. All of which set up Stanton and his team-leading OPS coming to the plate with one out and two in scoring position.
Smith offered four straight fastballs — all four-seamers that usually average 96 mph but were maxing out at 94 on this night — and on a 1-2 count, Stanton drilled a no-doubter to left-center field, making it 6-2 Yankees.
With each passing game and each additional trot from the bullpen to dive headfirst into the pressure cooker that is baseball’s postseason, relievers begin to wear down. At the same time, hitters — with each additional look at arms against whom they rarely get multiple at-bats during the regular season — start to build confidence and comfort. That dynamic is exaggerated when the hitters involved are already some of the best in the league under any circumstances, as is the case for the Yankees’ top bats.
Soto, Judge and Stanton are simply too talented, too meticulous in their craft, too brilliant in their execution to get repeatedly fooled or overwhelmed by the same pitcher. That was on full display Friday, as Smith suffered the consequences of overuse and overexposure against baseball’s very best.
“That is what the Yankees do really well,” Vogt said afterward. “They take a really good approach against your pitchers, and then they get pitches over the middle. They don’t miss them, and they really capitalized.”
Smith’s rare meltdown — just the second time this season that he allowed three earned runs in an outing — did not sink the Guardians, however. As it has time and time again, Cleveland clawed back into the game. It wasn’t especially pretty, but the scoreboard continued to evolve in the Guardians’ favor. Seventh-inning doubles from José Ramírez and Josh Naylor off Clay Holmes — speaking of tired relievers — closed the gap to just one run.
The eighth inning featured a far goofier run-scoring effort. With Bo Naylor on third, David Fry mishit a soft bouncer back toward pitcher Mark Leiter Jr., who attempted to scoop the ball up and toss it to first baseman Anthony Rizzo for the out but instead fumbled it past Rizzo’s waiting glove and through his legs, allowing Naylor to score the tying run.
As far as style points go, it was the polar opposite of Jhonkensy Noel’s majestic, game-tying blast from the previous night, yet it counted all the same: The Guardians had evened the score and given themselves a chance to steal another stunning victory.
“It would have been real easy when Cade gives up the three-run homer for us to just fold and go away, but that is not what this group does,” Vogt said. “… We got a chance to swing the bat and win the game. That’s who this team is.”
But a potential victory would first require an attempt at redemption for closer Emmanuel Clase.
Unlike Smith, who had been terrific at every turn until Friday’s misstep, Clase was in the midst of mind-bending October funk when he entered Game 4. He was one night removed from surrendering back-to-back homers to Judge and Stanton that gave the Yankees a then-shocking lead, which Clase’s resilient teammates eventually recaptured. Those consecutive crushing blows in high leverage, in tandem with his faulty form last round against Detroit, have made Clase’s spectacular regular season — one of the best campaigns ever completed by a relief pitcher — feel like a distant memory.
Game 4, though, appeared to be a favorable situation for Clase to regain some confidence. He was entering not in the middle of an inning with a runner already on base — something he’s been subjected to multiple times this month after not doing so once in the regular season — but to begin the ninth with a clean slate. With Cleveland having seized some momentum with the chaotic sequence to tie the game, it was on Clase to keep the scoreboard in check against the bottom of New York’s lineup.
Yet it didn’t take long for the Yankees to produce some traffic. Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe each smacked a single on the second cutter they saw, and the Yankees were immediately in business. Mustering consecutive baserunners against Clase in July or August was a gargantuan challenge for opponents. In October, somehow, it has become commonplace.
A Volpe steal, an uncharacteristic error from shortstop Brayan Rocchio and a single from Gleyber Torres followed, combining to add two more runs to the all-star closer’s postseason ledger. For the third time this month, there Clase was on the mound, with his team suddenly trailing due to pitches he had thrown. Although he didn’t allow another jaw-dropping dinger, Clase let another game slip away, opening another door for the opponent after six months of slamming them shut.
And this time, his teammates couldn’t pick him up, as a rally in the bottom of the ninth fell short.
Clase, alongside Smith, was the headlining feature in a bullpen that was Cleveland’s definitive superpower entering October. It is a group that still has the depth to shine through on occasion — Hunter Gaddis looked tremendous on Friday — but is unquestionably running on fumes collectively, and New York’s lineup has capitalized accordingly.
It’s always a good sign for the Yankees when Soto, Judge and Stanton are punishing opposing pitchers the way they did against Smith in the sixth. But for a lineup that has been brutally top-heavy for extended stretches of the year, rallies fueled by the likes of Rizzo, Volpe and Torres against a closer such as Clase, even in his lessened state, are particularly promising developments.
Earlier in Game 4, rookie catcher Austin Wells clobbered a home run to center field for his first hit of the LCS and first extra-base hit of the postseason after starting October 2-for-26. Wells was scorching hot in the summer, with a .303/.389/.549 line across July and August that vaulted him into AL Rookie of the Year conversations. But a frigid September carried into the postseason, lessening the threat of his bat in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup at a time when every at-bat carries significant weight. Wells is not alone in his offensive struggles as a backstop this October — catchers on LCS teams were collectively hitting .130/.201/.163 entering Friday — but if he can regain his midsummer form, that could be a game-changer for this offense.
Make no mistake: Soto, Judge and Stanton will need to continue to drive this train. But if New York is to advance and face off against a Mets or Dodgers team featuring far more offensive firepower than Cleveland, contributions from the rest of the lineup will become paramount. For the Yankees, Game 4 represented a step in the right direction on that front.
On Saturday in Game 5, it will be a fully rested Carlos Rodón against a less-rested Tanner Bibee. Rodon shined in Game 1, while Bibee lasted just four outs in Game 2. This time, the pressure will be on Bibee to cover as many innings as possible so as to not expose Cleveland’s beleaguered bullpen any further. That puts Vogt in an especially tough spot as the Guardians face elimination, a situation in which managers tend to deploy their bullpens with utmost urgency. After two terribly taxing days for the pitching staff, Vogt might not have that luxury; Bibee must deliver, or this series could be wrapped up in a hurry.
Meanwhile, the Yankees are just one win away from the Fall Classic, with an offense that seems to be getting more imposing by the day — a development that could be the difference between New York reaching its first World Series since 2009 and actually winning its first title in 15 years.
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