Yanks, Guards stage wild bullpen battle -- but home team has last laugh

CLEVELAND -- The Yankees’ bullpen had its chance to beat the Guardians at their own game. The stunning script was sitting right in front of them until something even wilder happened.

New York’s 7-5 loss in Game 3 of the ALCS on David Fry’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th is an instant postseason classic, but it still would have been if the Yankees closed the door an inning earlier. There was already enough drama. The Yankees had already found their heroes.

Instead, they have allowed the Guardians to make a series of this, now leading 2-1 after taking the first two at home in New York, and Thursday’s loss will be awfully hard to shake in just 24 hours.

“This is what we've been great at all year and what that room has been great at all year,” said manager Aaron Boone just minutes after the ground stopped shaking at Progressive Field. “We've had some tough losses that we've bounced back from. That stings when you get left there like that, especially after you battle back against them like that.”

Before all hell broke loose, it looked like Emmanuel Clase would put this game to bed like he always does. The game lined up perfectly for the best closer in baseball, but Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton silenced Cleveland with back-to-back home runs in the eighth to put the Yankees in front. The Guardians’ greatest strength had suddenly betrayed them. A quiet, disappointing loss would have stung for the Yankees, but after these blasts gave them such hope, the unexpected bullpen battle was on.

• Yankees-Guardians ALCS Game 4 FAQ

“I don't know if it gets much better than that,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “Two of the best closers in the game right now, you get to them. That doesn't happen hardly ever. I think there's one person that could hit that pitch off Emmanuel Clase out of the yard, and [Judge] did. As a baseball fan, it was really cool. As the opposing manager, it was not.”

The Yankees had the Guardians down to their final out, so close to taking a commanding lead in the series with Luke Weaver on the mound. Weaver has been excellent since taking over the closer’s role in September and has pitched in all seven postseason games for the Yankees, but Jhonkensy Noel delivered Cleveland’s first blow with a massive, two-run home run to left field to tie it.

Oddly enough, that’s not what’s stuck in Weaver’s mind. He kept coming back to the hitter before Noel, Lane Thomas, who doubled in a 3-2 count to extend the inning.

“One pitch away, honestly,” Weaver said. “The 0-2 to Lane Thomas. I have to execute. I really felt like I let the team down, myself down. It’s baseball and things like that happen with the twist of an arm. It feels a little devastating, but at the end of the day, you have to bounce back. We’re still in a good position. We feel like there’s some momentum there, but they earned it. It was a crazy game.”

Even as the game still needed extras, how could the Guardians lose? Boone brought in Clay Holmes to try to hold back the flood.

Holmes was the Yankees’ closer through the heart of the season until Weaver took over, but still, he’s a cornerstone of this bullpen and -- like Weaver -- has pitched in all seven postseason games.

Clase. Weaver. Holmes. All three allowed a two-run homer, all three cracking in the biggest moments of the series.

“We’re supposed to go out there and do our job. That’s our job, to go out there and shut things down,” Holmes said. “Our hitters did a great job to put us in position and we just didn’t make pitches. Our expectation out there is to put up zeros every time.”

This was such a huge opening for the Yankees. Coming back against the Guardians -- with that bullpen -- is the last way anyone expects them to win this series. They’re not supposed to win the bullpen battle, but for a moment, it looked like they had.

“Stuff like that happens,” Judge said. “These guys have been so good for us all season long, especially in the postseason. These guys have been lights out. Stuff like this happens. Everybody in this room has faith in our guys. We’ll move on.”

It’s easy for the Yankees to say they’ll forget this one, but that’s their only option, and the Yankees’ quickest path to the World Series is to avoid another bullpen battle entirely.