Guardians pushed to brink as Clase’s struggles continue

CLEVELAND — The ninth inning used to be so comfortable for the Guardians. A time when players on the Guardians’ bench admitted they could sit back, hardly pay attention to the game, yawn a time or two and know that Emmanuel Clase would mow down whoever was put in front of him.

Suddenly, that luxury is gone.

For the second consecutive night, Clase was charged with a blown save. The first time, his offense had his back and made an improbable comeback. On Friday, a rally wasn’t in the cards, as the Guardians fell, 8-6, to the Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field after Cleveland had erased a four-run deficit in the late innings. New York leads the series, 3-1.

“With Emmanuel, I think the ball was just leaking over the middle a little bit,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said, “and they were able to get some runs.”

Now, the Guardians’ backs are against the wall. In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams leading 3-1 after four games have gone on to win the series 79 of 93 times (85%). Of the 14 teams to rally from a 3-1 deficit, the most recent was the 2020 Dodgers, in the NLCS against the Braves. Under the current 2-3-2 format, teams with a 3-1 lead and playing Game 5 on the road have gone on to win the series 42 of 49 times (86%).

If this was just one off night, then maybe it would be easy to brush it off and turn the page. But this is the third time Clase has run into trouble this postseason. He gave up the deciding home run in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Tigers in the ninth inning. He gave up back-to-back homers to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to blow the lead in the eighth in Game 3 of the ALCS on Thursday.

This time, it may have been even more of a gut punch. The Guardians had clawed their way back from a four-run deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Cleveland had previously gone 1-37 in the postseason when trailing by four or more runs and yet, the Guardians found themselves back in it. All the way until Clase gave up two singles to start the ninth before an error and another single allowed the winning two runs to score.

“I’ve been missing some spots,” Clase said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero, “but also the credit to them. They’ve been getting some swings.”

Clase didn’t give up more than three hits in a single outing in the regular season. Now, he’s had three appearances with at least three hits allowed in the playoffs. He gave up five earned runs in 74 1/3 innings in the regular season, but he’s given up eight earned runs in seven postseason innings. He thought back on his playing career and said he couldn’t think of any moment that’s tested him more than this one.

“It is a reminder to keep improving,” Clase said. “Things are going to happen, so staying positive, trusting myself and keep grinding.”

The Guardians’ closer said there isn’t anything mechanically going wrong that’s causing these sour results. His velocity has been down slightly over the last two nights, but not to the level that would be alarming. It’s a matter of missing some spots, catching too much of the plate and possibly running out of gas at the wrong time.

The Guardians leaned heavily on their bullpen all season. It’s only ramped up since the playoffs began. It’s inevitable that everyone in the ‘pen would start to feel the effects of this approach and despite how invincible Clase was all season, he’s susceptible to fatigue, too.

But the problem is the Guardians can’t afford it. They’ve relied on the bullpen because it’s their greatest strength. José Ramírez and Josh Naylor combining for five RBIs is a great sign for Cleveland’s offense, but it can only mean so much if the clutch, high-leverage arms can’t keep the Yankees off the scoreboard.

“We’ve had a little success over the years off him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when asked if seeing him a few times has helped. “I mean, not like massive, but we’ve gotten to him a couple times.

“Obviously he’s as good as it gets, but I think when you have some success against him, and you know he’s throwing a lot, like a lot of our guys, a lot of their guys have thrown in the postseason, I think there’s probably a little bit of confidence that we can do this against one of the game’s greats.”

It’s been two straight nights of hiccups for Clase. It’s a dangerous trend for a team whose season will end with one more loss. The Guardians aren’t planning to run away from Clase. He’s earned their trust that he can flush these bad outings and he’s confident that he will rebound to be the reliable closer he’s been all season long.

All they can do now is hope he’s right.

“He’s still the best pitcher in the world in my opinion,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said. “We haven’t lost the series. He’s going to be right back out there getting saves for us.”