Guardians use long ball to pull off miraculous walk-off win after squandering late lead

 

The Cleveland Guardians were one strike away from falling behind 3-0 in the American League Championship Series – instead, they have all the momentum.

A pair of two-run home runs in the ninth and 10th innings propelled the Guardians to a 7-5 win over the New York Yankees to cut their deficit in the ALCS to two games to one.

All season long, the Cleveland Guardians have played a six-inning game; entering Thursday, they were 76-2 when leading after six innings, including the postseason. But Thursday night did not go as planned. 

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After Hunter Gaddis issued a two-out walk to Juan Soto in the eighth, Emmanuel Clase came in to face the struggling Aaron Judge.

Judge took Clase deep to tie the game, but the Yanks weren’t done yet. The next batter, noted October legend Giancarlo Stanton, launched a solo homer, giving the Bronx Bombers a 4-3 lead – Clase had given up two home runs in the entire regular season, yet allowed two in a three-pitch span.

Gleyber Torres added a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run lead in the ninth, but down to their final out, the Guardians put the tying run at the plate. On the first pitch he saw, Jhonkensy Noel hit a long two-run homer to tie the game.

The Yankees failed to score in the 10th, and the Guardians put the winning run on third with two outs, but they got much more than a single – David Fry launched a walk-off two-run home run.

It’s the third walk-off home run in Guardians history, alongside Oscar Gonzalez in 2022 and Tony Pena in 1995.

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Luis Gil will go for the Yankees in Game 4 on Friday night at 8:08 p.m. ET, while Gavin Williams will go for Cleveland – it’s both pitchers’ first postseason outing.

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