CLEVELAND, Ohio — The stage was set for another big moment Friday night in the seventh inning of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field.
Josh Naylor had just delivered a two-run double that cut New York’s lead to 6-5. Lane Thomas had drawn a walk against Clay Holmes, and the Yankees made were bringing in Mark Leiter Jr. from the bullpen.
It was time for Jhonkensy Noel to get a pinch-hit at-bat. And just like he had done the night before in Cleveland’s wild Game 4 comeback win, more than 35,000 fans were hoping to see Noel deliver a home run swing.
They found out, however, that Big Christmas arrives only once a year. If you’re lucky.
Noel held off on a Leiter sweeper before taking a curveball up and over the plate. Leiter’s third pitch was another sweeper, this time on the outside part of the plate that Noel swung at and launched into the air.
Jhonkensy Noel hits a fly ball to left field in the seventh inning of Friday’s 8-6 Guardians loss to New York in Game 4 of the ALCS.Image via TBS
Fans rose as one from their seats, trying to will the ball over the wall in left field, but Noel had made contact too far out on the end of the barrel. The ball left the bat at 90.3 mph according to Statcast at a launch angle of 35 degrees. It carried 328 feet to the warning track in left, where Alex Verdugo raced over and made the catch.
Noel’s drive hung in the air for 4.8 seconds and made Verdugo travel 85 feet to complete the catch. It had a .040 expected batting average and a 77% catch probability.
Given what had happed in Thursday’s wild affair, it was reasonable for fans to expect Noel’s second brush with destiny to produce similar results. But the Guardians slugger knew right away that he had missed his pitch.
“No, no, no,” Noel said. “I knew it was a little off the end of the bat.”
Manager Stephen Vogt had a good look at the play and knew Noel had hit the ball off the end.
“I thought maybe he got enough to get it off the wall,” Vogt said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a homer. I thought it may get into that little angled wall. Verdugo made a nice play. It looked like it was about five feet short from hitting off the wall.”
