NEW YORK – The Guardians have watched Emmanuel Clase emerge as arguably baseball’s best young closer this season with some of the nastiest pitches in the game. Yet, as he unleashed triple-digit fastballs and buckling sliders on Yankees hitters in his third inning of work to finish off a 4-2 win in Game 2 of their American League Division Series, even some of them had to take a moment and marvel.

“It’s kind of hard to describe just how good that guy is,” said first baseman Josh Naylor, whose RBI double punctuated the go-ahead, two-run 10th-inning the Guardians had been waiting for while their bullpen shut down the mighty Yankees offense. “The fact that he’s still throwing 100 [mph] after two innings is nuts.”

• Yanks held in check as Guardians even ALDS

• Postseason ticket information: Guardians | Yankees

For the second time in seven days, the Guardians' bullpen outlasted its counterpart to pull out a low-scoring game. This one, however, followed a different script. After using seven relievers for nine scoreless innings to pull out a 1-0 win over the Rays on Saturday to advance out of the Wild Card round, the Guardians leaned on their dominant late-inning trio this time around. Trevor Stephan, James Karinchak and Clase combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts in relief of Shane Bieber. Clase covered the final 2 1/3 innings in the longest outing of his Major League career.

• Gutsy Guardian bloop way to Game 2 win, tying ALDS

Unlike that clinching game against the Rays, the Guardians don’t have an off-day coming to rest. Thanks to Thursday’s rainout, they’ll play the next two nights back in Cleveland, with Game 5 looming on Monday back at Yankee Stadium, if needed. Same, obviously, for the Yankees, who used six relievers – including closer Clay Holmes and Jameson Taillon in the first relief appearance of his Major League career after 143 starts.

“It’s definitely a little different,” Taillon, who warmed up in the bullpen in Game 1 on Tuesday, said before Game 2.

Both teams will have decisions to make on how to handle their bullpen going forward. The way they used their relief corps Friday showed the importance of taking Game 2, especially for Cleveland, which returns home with a 1-1 split instead of facing a must-win Game 3.

In Division Series under the 2-2-1 format, not including 2020 series played at neutral sites, teams that have split the first two games on the road have gone on to advance 26 out of 39 times.

History favors the Guardians, even if they might have to get creative with bullpen usage to get there.

“We don't script it out,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said of how Friday unfolded.

Clase entered with two outs in the eighth inning after Karinchak walked the bases loaded. Once Clase retired Kyle Higashioka to end the inning, he was bound to stay in for the ninth with Aaron Judge due up. He’d thrown 17 pitches over 1 1/3 innings when Cleveland took the lead in the 10th.

“If he's not in a dangerous area, if he still looks effective, we’re able to send him back out,” Francona said. “If we had not scored, we weren't going to send him back out, but when we scored, that's why we sent him. Try to make the best decisions you can.”

Clase’s 33 pitches marked the second most he has thrown in an outing in his big league career, behind only a 36-pitch outing he threw as a Rangers rookie on Sept. 10, 2019. Last month, however, he came back from a 22-pitch save on Sept. 23 and threw 14 pitches in a save the next day.

“I love the extra importance of the games and the intensity,” Clase said through a translator. “We just keep doing what we do.”

The Guardians should still have Stephan available after he used 21 pitches to fan all four batters he faced. He saved three games in the regular season. Righties Eli Morgan and Enyel De Los Santos and lefty Sam Hentges should also be available in support of starter Triston McKenzie.

“We’ve played games like that all year,” Stephan said. “We were used to it when we were playing the Rays last week. It won’t be the last game, probably, that we’re going to play like this. I feel like when games play out that way, we feel confident and try to take advantage.”

On the Yankees’ side, the only pitcher who went longer than an inning Friday was Jonathan Loáisiga, who retired all five batters he faced on just 15 pitches. No reliever threw more than 18 pitches. The lone major impact could be Taillon’s availability as a starter in the series.

“We never thought this was going to be easy,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.