CLEVELAND, Ohio — Growing up in Seattle, Matthew Boyd’s father coached 18U summer baseball, and it blessed the Guardians lefty with the perspective of viewing the game through a coach’s lens.
Boyd would put himself in the hitter’s shoes, trying to figure out what each player was doing, or look at the guys on deck and think about what they were seeing. It was a fun way for him to pick up on little details and decipher the strategies of the game.
And then it was time to compete.
Boyd is looking forward to competing Thursday when he takes the ball for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Yankees at Progressive Field. With the Guardians facing an 0-2 hole, Boyd knows what he and his teammates are up against. But the 10-year veteran was undaunted Thursday when he talked to reporters.
“You’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to go compete against them,” Boyd said. “The game will dictate anything else that needs to happen. But it’s the postseason; you want to go against the best. You wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Historically, Boyd has had his trouble when facing the Yankees in the regular season. Dating back to 2016, Boyd is 1-3 with a 5.17 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings over six starts vs. New York. He has allowed seven home runs and walked 16 batters while posting a 1.436 WHIP against the Bronx Bombers.
This season, he made one start against New York, allowing three runs on four hits including a pair of first inning home runs to Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in the Guardians’ August 21 loss at Yankee Stadium.
But Judge and Soto are the only players currently on New York’s roster to have homered off Boyd, and despite some small sample sizes, Boyd has found success against a few players in manager Aaron Boone’s lineup.
Gleyber Torres, who has reached base safely in each of his last nine postseason games, is 1 for 9 lifetime against Boyd with three strikeouts. Giancarlo Stanton, who is slugging .652 in six playoff games this year is hitless in three career at-bats when facing Boyd. Alex Verdugo has one hit in six at-bats. Besides Judge and Soto, no Yankees hitter has reached base safely more than once against Boyd.
But that does not provide a lot of solace for Cleveland’s Game 3 starter.
“They’re the best team in the AL record-wise all year, you want that challenge,” Boyd said. “We want to go up against the best, and as a pitcher, you welcome that.”
Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said Boyd has thrown the ball well every time the Guardians have given it to him this year.
“He has worked tremendously hard to get himself back healthy,” Vogt said. “We’ve talked about it, and Matt has been great for us. I’m excited to give him the ball and see what he can do.”
Boyd has been effective using his slider as a put-away pitch 25.5% of the time. Judge homered on a 3-1 sinker on the inside part of the plate in August, so Boyd will need to put himself in a position to go after the Yankees captain with his best pitch.
“You go out there and attack. They’re very good hitters. You respect their ability, their reputation. What they did this year is really impressive. You just go out there and you just compete. It’s a welcome challenge. The biggest thing is you just go out there and compete against them.”
Boyd said the added pressure of the Guardians facing a must-win situation has not hit him yet.
“I don’t know how it’s going to feel, but I know what I’m going to do,” Boyd said. “My game is my game. It’s a slippery slope to say how you feel is going to dictate what you’re going to go do. I’ll just go out there and go do what I know I’m going to do when the ball is in my hand.”
Boyd said the Guardians know their identity as a team. This is not the time to go and make drastic changes as a reaction to how games 1 and 2 turned out. If anything, this is where Cleveland doubles down.
“We know what we’re about,” Boyd said. “Our record speaks for itself. We did it in the regular season. We know what we’re made of. We’re just going to go play our game.”
