Oscar Gonzalez singled in the go-ahead run with Cleveland’s second straight bloop hit in the 10th inning, and the Guardians overcame a two-run deficit to beat the Yankees, 4-2, Friday in New York and even their best-of-five AL Division Series at one game apiece.
José Ramírez led off the 10th against Jameson Taillon with an opposite-field popup that dropped 200 feet from home plate, just in front of left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera for a double. Ramírez hustled all the way and slid into third headfirst when third baseman Josh Donaldson threw the ball past second for an error.
Gonzalez, whose 15th-inning homer completed a two-game sweep of Tampa Bay in the wild-card round, followed with a 59 m.p.h., 164-foot opposite-field flare into short right off Taillon, who made his first big league relief appearance after 143 starts. Josh Naylor added an RBI double that bounced on a hop off the wall in right-center.
“We just try find a way on base,” Naylor said. “If it’s a bloop hit, it’s a bloop hit. If it’s a hard-hit single, double, whatever the case it, we just try to hustle. try to make things happen on the field, try to put pressure on the defense.”
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Winning pitcher Emmanuel Clase pitched 2⅓ innings, his most in the major leagues, and combined with Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak for 4⅓ innings of one-hit relief as Cleveland stopped a six-game postseason losing streak to the Yankees. Starter Shane Bieber allowed the two earned runs in 5⅔ innings.
Clase retired Kyle Higashioka on a lineout to Ramírez for the final out of the eighth after Karinchak walked the bases loaded. The Guardians’ closer threw 33 pitches, 10 more than his season high.
“It was preparing mentally and remembering when I was a starter in the minor leagues and try to do the same thing,” Clase said through a translator.
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Guardians relievers have thrown 17⅔ scoreless innings this season.
The series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday night. There is no travel day because a rainout Thursday had pushed Game 2 to Friday.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Cleveland tied the score against Nestor Cortes when Andrés Giménez had an RBI single in the fourth and Amed Rosario homered in the fifth.
Aaron Judge went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts and dropped to 0 for 8 with seven strikeouts and a walk in the series. Fresh off setting the AL home run record with 62, he was booed by some fans in the sellout crowd of 47,355 after whiffing against Stephan in the seventh.
Judge is 2 for 37 with 27 strikeouts against Cleveland in three playoff series, including all four of his four-strikeout postseason games.
“It’s the Bronx, man,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Great hitters go 0-for on a given day.
Their fans still bugged by what happened 15 years ago, the Yankees could face pesky midges again when the 2007 American League Division Series moves to Cleveland this weekend.
The flying insects memorably swarmed Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain during Game 2 of the 2007 Division Series at what was then called Jacobs Field. The bugs returned last weekend at nearby FirstEnergy Stadium for an NFL game between the Browns and Los Angeles Chargers. Cleveland and New York will play Saturday night at what’s now called Progressive Field.
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Midges hatch along Lake Erie several times a year.
“I was at the Browns game on Sunday after the wild-card series and they were out in full force and it was the middle of the day. So I can only imagine when we get back,” Cleveland Game 3 starter Triston McKenzie said Friday. “When you try to swat them away, they don’t care and they will land on you anyway. I don’t even know how to explain it. That’s the best way to explain it. They will land on you.
“You can kill them and they will just stay there.”
This time around with the midges possibly in play, Luis Severino gets the start for the Yankees.
Phillies muscle up, overpower Braves in Game 3 of NLDS
Rhys Hoskins burst out of his postseason malaise with a three-run homer and spiked his bat in triumph and Bryce Harper hit a two-run shot that sent Phillies fever soaring in Philadelphia and helped carry them to a 9-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the NL Division Series.
Harper added an RBI double as Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five matchup against the reigning World Series champs. The Phillies can advance to the NL Championship Series with a Game 4 win at home on Saturday.
The Phillies and a sellout crowd of 45,538 fans waited 11 mostly miserable years — 4,025 days, to be exact — to host a playoff game again at Citizens Bank Park. The previous playoff game came in the 2011 NLDS.
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The bats erupted in a six-run third inning that will forever be stamped on a Philly sports highlight reel. Bryson Stott got the rally going with an RBI double off Braves rookie Spencer Strider. Kyle Schwarber drew an intentional walk to set the stage for Hoskins. Hoskins, mired in a 1-for-19 postseason slump, crushed a fastball into the left-field seats for a 4-0 lead. Hoskins raised his arms in celebration, slammed his bat into the grass and he skipped his way to first base.
“I don’t know if my feet touched the ground,” Hoskins said.
Strider, who pitched the first time in almost a month because of a strained left oblique, gave up one more single before he was lifted for Dylan Lee.
Playing his first playoff home game with the Phillies, Harper hammered the ball into the twilight for his second postseason homer and a 6-0 lead. Phillies fans that held hand-cut letters that spelled out “Harper” bounced in delight in stands that absolutely rocked. Harper, who embraced Philly, the Phanatic, and the fans from the moment he signed a $330 million, 13-year deal in 2019, pointed to a fan that held a “Hit That Jawn” sign behind the dugout.
Jawn is a Philly noun used to describe anything.
Harper’s shot made Philly feel everything.
“I was just fired up, ready to go,” the two-time NL MVP said.
Aaron Nola was an October ace again in shutting down the defending World Series champion Braves. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out six in six-plus innings.
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The Phillies had yet to name a Game 4 starter. Charlie Morton will get the ball for Atlanta.
Orioles claim two catchers from Reds
The Baltimore Orioles claimed catchers Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds. Garcia played in 47 games with the Reds in 2022, while Kolozsvary made his big league debut in April and made 10 appearances.
The Orioles also designated righthanded relievers Louis Head and Beau Sulser for assignment.