For the second consecutive night, the New York Yankees torched peerless closer Emmanuel Clase. And this time, they held onto the lead – and finally crawled within one win of their first World Series since 2009.
The Yankees banged out three hits on Clase – more than any he’d given up in any regular season appearance – and pushed across two ninth-inning runs to capture Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, 8-6, at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.
New York takes a 3-1 ALCS lead into Saturday night, when lefty and Game 1 winner Carlos Rodon will try to finish the job against Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee.
And while this series might eventually look like a blowout, the last two nights were anything but easy for the favored Bronx Bombers.
They got a two-run homer from Juan Soto and a three-run shot from Giancarlo Stanton to take a 6-2 lead after six innings, but Cleveland never quits. The Guardians scratched out a run in the eighth to tie it and summoned their eighth pitcher of the game, Clase, to keep it level.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
Clase saved 47 of 50 games in the regular season, but has been roughed up in these playoffs. In Thursday’s Game 3, he gave up home runs to Aaron Judge and Stanton to blow a two-run lead and put the Guardians in peril, before a pair of home runs bailed them out.
In Friday’s Game 4, it was a soft opposite-field single from Anthony Rizzo and a sharply-struck hit from Anthony Volpe that got him in hot water. After a strikeout, a gentle grounder from Alex Verdugo scored pinch-runner Jon Berti with the go-ahead run. Gleyber Torres added an RBI single – and the Yankees appreciated the insurance.
With closer Luke Weaver unavailable, Mark Leiter Jr. – activated Friday only because of an injury to Ian Hamilton – recorded five outs. Tommy Kahnle was summoned for the ninth and pitched around a one-out walk and bloop single to close it out.
And come Saturday night, the Yankees could be spraying champagne and awaiting the Mets-Dodgers survivor in the World Series.
– Gabe Lacques
Here’s how Friday’s game unfolded:
Guardians tie it up in eighth
David Fry won Game 3 of this ALCS with a titanic blast. He evened the score in Game 4 with the softest of squibbers.
The Cleveland Guardians forced a 6-6 tie through eight innings Friday when Yankees reliever Mark Leiter Jr. misplayed his soft grounder back toward the mound, retrieved the ball and threw awkwardly to first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
The play was charitably ruled a hit and an RBI as Bo Naylor crossed the plate with the tying run.
Closer Emmanuel Clase, who gave up two big home runs in the Game 3 win, is on to try to keep this game even to the bottom of the ninth as the Guardians trail 2-1 in the series.
Yankees 6, Guardians 5: Cleveland claws back in 7th
The Cleveland Guardians are not backing down.
Right after falling into a four-run hole in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, they rallied for three runs off a pair of New York Yankees relievers and pulled within 6-5 through seven innings Friday night at Progressive Field.
And they were just a few feet short of rolling up a six-run inning.
After Giancarlo Stanton’s three-run homer gave New York a 6-2 lead, manager Aaron Boone tried milking a second inning out of reliever Jake Cousins. But Cousins walked the No. 9 hitter to start the inning and things exploded from there off he and fellow right-hander Clay Holmes.
RBI doubles by Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor drove in three runs and after Boone opted for recently activated Mark Leiter Jr. to put out the fire, counterpart Stephen Vogt sent up Game 3 hero Jhonkensy Noel to pinch hit.
And Noel nearly came through a second consecutive night, but just got under a fly ball that died in Alex Verdugo’s glove at the left field wall.
The Yankees’ battered bullpen still needs to find six more outs.
Giancarlo Stanton home run gives Yankees 6-2 lead
Giancarlo Stanton quieted any notion of a Cleveland uprising with one swing.
The New York Yankees slugger’s fantastic postseason continued in impactful fashion Friday, as he hammered a three-run homer off Guardians relief ace Cade Smith to give the Yankees a 6-2 lead in the sixth inning of Game 4.
With the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 lead and the Guardians reborn with their heroics in winning Game 3, Stephen Vogt tabbed the dominant Smith to pitch the sixth. But he issued a leadoff walk to Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge scorched a first-pitch fastball for a single that came off the bat at 112 mph.
After rare sacrifice bunt from a cleanup hitter, Jazz Chisholm, Stanton followed by shooting a 1-2 fastball 404 feet into the left field bleachers for a 6-2 lead.
The Yankees are 12 outs from taking a 3-1 ALCS lead.
– Gabe Lacques
Yankees lead 3-2 through four
The New York Yankees are holding a slim advantage – 3-2 over the Cleveland Guardians through four innings of ALCS Game 4. But they also have the upper hand in another fashion.
Starter Luis Gil survived a significant amount of traffic to gut through four innings, turning in his first clean frame of the night get through the fourth. Meanwhile, the Guardians had to dip into their bullpen in the third inning, with starter Gavin Williams replaced by lefty Erik Sabrowski to make sure Juan Soto – who homered earlier – didn’t get another look at the righty starter.
As the fifth inning begins, the Guardians are on their third pitcher, Eli Morgan. Gil is still in – though with the top of Cleveland’s lineup looming, perhaps not for long.
Austin Wells homer makes it 3-1
With two outs in the top of the second, Yankees catcher Austin Wells hit a solo homer to center field against Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, extending New York’s lead to 3-1.
Juan Soto home run gives Yankees first-inning lead
There’s practically no way the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees can top their pulsating Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Yet Game 4 started exactly as the previous one ended: With a two-run homer.
Juan Soto drilled his second home run of the series, a 414-foot shot off Guardians started Gavin Williams, to stake the Yankees to a 2-1 lead after one inning Friday.
Williams, making his first start in 19 days, found trouble immediately, giving up a single to the red-hot Gleyber Torres before encountering Soto, who pounded a 98-mph fastball into Progressive Field’s right field stands.
But Yankees starter Luis Gil, like Williams making his first appearance since September, gave half of that back. He walked leadoff batter Steven Kwan and gave up a double to Kyle Manzardo. But Gil would yield only a Jose Ramirez sacrifice fly to maintain the Yankees’ lead.
– Gabe Lacques
Yankees vs Guardians Game 4 time
First pitch for ALCS Game 4 is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Location: Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio
Date: Friday, Oct. 18
Yankees vs Guardians TV channel for ALCS Game 4
Time: 8:08 p.m. ET
TV: truTV
Yankees lineup for ALCS Game 4
Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
Juan Soto (L) RF
Aaron Judge (R) CF
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
Anthony Volpe (R) SS
Austin Wells (L) C
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Guardians lineup: ALCS Game 4
Steven Kwan (L) LF
Kyle Manzardo (L) DH
José Ramírez (S) 3B
Josh Naylor (L) 1B
Lane Thomas (R) CF
Daniel Schneemann (L) RF
Andrés Giménez (L) 2B
Austin Hedges (R) C
Brayan Rocchio (S) SS
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.