The New York Yankees held on for a thrilling win in Game 4 of the ALCS at Progressive Field on Friday, beating the Cleveland Guardians 8-6 to take a 3-1 series lead.
The Yankees will have a chance to clinch their 41st AL pennant and first since 2009 on Saturday.
Pinch runner Jon Berti scored the winning run in the top of the ninth on an error by Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio.
Closer Emmanuel Clase put the first two runners on in the ninth before Rocchio’s error plated the deciding score. Gleyber Torres added some insurance with an RBI single.
This was Clase’s second straight rough outing of the series following his blown save in Game 3. After giving up just five earned runs during the regular season, the 26-year-old now owns a 10.29 ERA in seven postseason innings.
“Everyone (in the bullpen) is tired,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said postgame, according to theScore’s Travis Sawchik. “We’ve used them a lot. We’ve had to. That’s who we are.”
The Guardians trailed 6-2 after six, and it appeared that the Yankees would waltz to victory. But Cleveland mounted a furious comeback for the second straight night, beginning with three runs in the seventh thanks to RBI doubles from José Ramírez and Josh Naylor.
Jhonkensy Noel, who came off the bench to crush an improbable game-tying homer in the ninth inning Thursday, nearly did it again in Game 4. Pinch hitting for Will Brennan in the seventh, Noel connected with Mark Leiter Jr.’s sweeper, but the ball died in Alex Verdugo’s glove directly in front of the left-field wall. Leiter struck out the next batter to end the inning.
David Fry, the other Game 3 hero, tied Friday’s game in the eighth with an infield single that scored a run when Leiter mishandled it. Fry, however, was stranded on base when Leiter struck out Naylor to end the inning.
Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but he got Rocchio to ground out to second to finish off the save.
New York got early offense from Juan Soto, who launched his second homer of the series in the first inning off Guardians starter Gavin Williams. Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton also went deep for the Yankees.
Luis Gil was effective in his first postseason start for the Yankees, allowing two runs on three hits over four innings while striking out three.
