In a tight and suspenseful game that had to go into extra innings, the Guardians edged New York 2-1, closing the ALCS to within a game. The series has been led by the Yankees, who now have to move one step closer to their third consecutive championship. Tonight was just another nail-biter where the Guardians defied the odds to keep alive their hopes of reaching postseason play.
This was a game pitched rather than hit from the opening through the middle innings, as both were unable to muster much offense against strong starts from Cleveland’s Shane Bieber and New York’s Gerrit Cole. Bieber threw seven innings without yielding a run while striking out eight. Cole went eight strong with just one run allowed, and nine strikeouts.
The Yankees put first impressions on the board in the top of the fourth inning with Aaron Judge launching a solo home run into left field that gave New York a 1-0 lead, but the Guardians got those runs back in the sixth with José Ramírez doubling and scoring later on a sacrifice fly by Josh Naylor to knot it up at 1-1.
Both teams had chances to break a tie in the late innings but were unable to capitalize. The Yankees loaded the bases in the eighth and could not score for the go-ahead run, and later, in the ninth, the Guardians left runners in scoring position as well.
The game went into deadlock until the top of the 11th, when Cleveland’s Andrés Giménez provided a crucial RBI single off Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga, plating Steven Kwan, who reached on a walk and moved over on a wild pitch. That one turned out to be the difference-maker as the Guardians took a 2-1 lead.
Emmanuel Clase slammed the door on the Yankees in the bottom of the inning to end the ballgame, sending the game to Cleveland and cutting New York’s ALCS lead to 3-2.
After the game, Guardians manager Terry Francona praised his team’s resilience: “We battled, and that’s what it’s going to take to keep this series going.”.
The win sends the series to Cleveland for Game 6, where the Guardians will be looking to force a decisive Game 7 and keep its World Series hopes alive.
