'One pitch away' from victory, Yanks endure Game 3 gut punch

CLEVELAND – There have been a handful of mistakes that Luke Weaver believes he has gotten away with throughout this unexpected and magical ride as the Yankees’ de facto closer, offerings that spiked into the dirt or were discarded as harmless foul balls into the seats.

As Weaver felt a changeup roll awkwardly from his fingertips and float into the heart of the strike zone, he braced for impact, hoping to somehow be spared. No such luck: Jhonkensy Noel connected for a game-tying two-run homer, a blast that Weaver couldn’t bring himself to watch in real time.

“One pitch away,” Weaver said after the Yankees’ 7-5 loss to the Guardians in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. “I’ve just got to execute. I really felt like I let the team down there, let myself down. It’s baseball, things like that happen.”

So close to taking a commanding three-games-to-none series lead powered by clutch eighth-inning homers from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees instead watched a walk-off celebration as Clay Holmes surrendered David Fry’s two-run homer in the 10th inning. They now lead the ALCS by the tighter margin of two games to one.

“That’s a great baseball game if you’re a fan watching, on both sides,” said Anthony Rizzo. “It’s tough to be on this end of it.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he’d just seen a “classic,” albeit one accompanying a gut punch that his club never expected to endure, especially after rallying for a late lead against one of the game’s elite closers in Emmanuel Clase.

“It was an amazing game to witness. That was playoff baseball,” Boone said. “Both sides just kept coming with haymakers and big at-bats, big moments off two really good bullpens. They outlasted us tonight. They had one more good swing than us.”

After Judge tied the game with a two-run blast and Stanton followed with a go-ahead shot, Boone leaned on Weaver to extinguish a two-on jam in the eighth. Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth had provided an insurance run, and a double play gave Weaver two outs with nobody on in the bottom of the frame.

Lane Thomas gave the Guardians life, winning a six-pitch battle by belting a full-count fastball for a double off the wall in left-center field. In retrospect, Weaver said he felt the Thomas showdown was the game’s deciding factor.

• Yankees-Guardians ALCS Game 4 FAQ

“You’re 0-2, you’ve got to get him out there and not let momentum take over in their home ballpark,” Weaver said. “You see how rowdy they get. It just allows the moment to get big.”

Cleveland sent up Noel, a rookie with the nickname “Big Christmas” who hadn’t homered since Aug. 30, a span of 76 plate appearances. Christmas came early: Weaver stood, glove on left hip, as Noel tossed the bat aside – about to savor the biggest home run trot of his life.

“It was a crazy game; the bats were hot and the ball was flying out of the park,” Weaver said. “Big at-bat there from Noel; I just threw the worst pitch of the outing and it looked like he was ready to aggressively swing. He got it, and I’ve got to flush it.”

The Yankees’ bullpen, of course, has been their biggest strength in the postseason thus far – before Kyle Manzardo’s two-run homer off Clarke Schmidt early in this contest, the Yanks hadn’t trailed since Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Royals.

Weaver has been a huge part of that, registering four saves over seven appearances, though that workload may be catching up with him. Weaver said that he is receiving treatment to remain strong and believes the adrenaline of the playoff setting can overcome any fatigue.

“I feel good,” Weaver said. “I feel like there’s just times where you’ve got to slow the game down and not let it speed up.”

That’s also the case for Holmes, who hadn’t allowed a run over his first 6 2/3 playoff innings. With Bo Naylor at third base and two outs, Fry slammed a Holmes sinker deep to left field. Holmes watched it fly as the crowd roared, recognizing the most likely outcome.

“There’s still a lot of confidence in the guys here,” Holmes said. “We’ve taken blows all year long. There’s no doubt we can overcome this and bounce back. We’ve got a resilient group of guys and a lot of confidence here.”

Indeed, the Yankees still expect to be the ones celebrating at the end of the series. As Weaver said, “You don’t come in ever thinking that you’re going to sweep a team. 4-0 is a very, very hard thing to do.”

That’s especially true with a pennant on the line.

“It's the playoffs, man,” Boone said. “You're going to have games like this when you get into an epic battle and sometimes you're on the losing end. You dust yourself off and get ready for a big one tomorrow.”