The Cleveland Guardians were close to their final blow, but the rowdy team did it again.
The Guardians scored three runs at the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 and now lead the best-of-five streak by two games to one.
Wandy Peralta knocked out the first five batters he faced, but after back-to-back bloop hits to bring the winning streak to the plate, Aaron Boone had a right to Clarke Schmidt. However, he allowed back-to-back singles to load the bases, cutting the Yanks’ lead to one and putting the tie and winning runs in goal position. He beat Josh Naylor but Oscar Gonzalez, who sent the Guardians to the ALDS with a walk-off homer, fielded a single down the middle to score two runs and win the game.
The Guardians joined the board early. Steven Kwan scored a single from Josh Naylor after his leadoff double, and in the second Kwan had an RBI single himself.
Oscar Gonzalez #39 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates with his team after hitting a two run single in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees in game three of the American League Division Series at Progressive Field October 15, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio . (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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But Aaron Judge reminded fans that he’s still Aaron Judge, even after going 0-9 with eight strikeouts in his first 10 plate appearances of the series. He bombed a 449-foot two-run homer ahead of Triston McKenzie in the third to tie the game.
In the fourth game, rookie Oswaldo Cabrera, who had dropped from five holes to ninth place, landed a two-run shot of his own to give the Americans a 4-2 lead. McKenzie allowed four runs with four hits in his five innings of work, walking one and knocking out five.
Amed Rosario #1 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates after scoring a run in the ninth inning during game three of the American League Division Series at Progressive Field October 15, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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Luis Severino then settled down and eventually retired 13 times in a row. But he allowed back-to-back two-out singles, prompting Aaron Boone to bring in Lou Trivino. Still, he allowed Will Brennan a single to put Cleveland in one. With that, Severino finished with 5.2 innings of three runs while allowing eight hits and hitting six.
Harrison Bader got the run back right in seventh place with a solo shot, his second home run in his last three games. However, apparently it wasn’t enough.
It was a tough defensive night for Isiah Kiner-Falefa – although he wasn’t officially charged with a fault, the Guardians’ first run could have been denied if he hadn’t suffered the ball that went under his glove. In the sixth, he failed to get Andres Gimenez out on an infield single, who eventually came by to score.
The Yankees were made to hit you with the home run – they did their job and hit three. The Guardians are made to scratch and fight their way to a win – they’ve had 15 hits, 13 of them singles. The latter won.
The Yankees went into this series as big favorites – they are now on the brink of elimination.
Amed Rosario #1 of the Cleveland Guardians scores the game-winning run in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees in game three of the American League Division Series at Progressive Field on October 15, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Dylan Buell/Getty Image)
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The Guardians will have Cal Quantrill on the mound for a series win while the Yankees will ask Gerrit Cole to salvage their season and send the season back to the Bronx on Monday.