CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians had executed their pitching blueprint to near-perfection Thursday, but when two of baseball’s biggest outliers collide, there is no accounting for the chaos that can follow.
Cleveland’s All-Star closer, Emmanuel Clase, went toe-to-toe with Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in the eighth inning Thursday. It was a matchup of two Titans that more than 32,000 fans had waited all night at Progressive Field to see.
When it was over, Clase and the Guardians were the ones in need of a rescue.
Clase entered with two out after Hunter Gaddis walked Juan Soto on four pitches. He worked ahead of Judge, 1-2, before the Yankees captain drilled a 99 mph cutter on the outside corner of the plate 356 feet over the wall in right field for his 15th career postseason home run and sixth in ALCS play.
According to Statcast, the ball would have been a home run in eight of baseball’s 29 other ballparks, including Yankee Stadium. To make matters worse, Giancarlo Stanton followed by capping a seven-pitch at-bat with a solo blast to center field that gave New York a 4-3 lead.
Guardians designated hitter David Fry said it felt like Cleveland had been punched in the mouth with the best pitcher in baseball on the mound. Clase had dominated with more saves (47) during the regular season than anybody in the American League. You needed a microscope to find his ERA, a scant 0.61.
Clase had given everything on the mound all season long for the Guardians. So, Fry and his teammates decided it was time to return the favor.
“It was just like, ‘You know what, it’s time we give him a break,’” Fry said. “He carried our team all year long in the ninth inning, and it’s our time to pick him up, and I’m glad we did.”
Home runs by Jhonkensy Noel in the ninth and Fry in the 10th eventually gave Cleveland a 7-5 walk-off victory and kept the Guardians alive, trailing 2 games to 1 in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
It was Clase’s first blown save in four postseason chances dating back to 2022. He allowed multiple home runs in a game for the first time in his career, regular season or postseason. Clase did not stick around to talk to reporters about surrendering the lead.
Afterward, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt understood what made the Clase-Judge matchup special, and why everybody at the ballpark was still buzzing about it more than an hour later.
“I think there’s one person that could hit that pitch off Emmanuel Clase out of the yard, and he did,” Vogt said. “As a baseball fan, it was really cool. As the opposing manager, it was not.
Vogt said before the eighth inning Thursday, his closer had been pretty much perfect this season.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more from Emmanuel all year and he is going to be right back out there in the ninth tomorrow night,” Vogt said. “He’s human.”
After the game, Noel said there was no reason to console Clase because Cleveland ended up winning the game. But he echoed Fry’s remarks, through Guardians interpreter Agusitn Rivero, saying his team is lucky to have the best pitcher in the world on their side.
“That’s going to happen, and he’s saved us so many times that this is the least we could do for him,” Noel said.
Cleveland’s blueprint for beating New York was working before Clase faltered. Matthew Boyd gave them five innings and turned the ball over to the Big Four at the back end of their bullpen with a lead in the sixth inning. Boyd retired the final 10 batters he faced after Jose Trevino’s RBI single in the second, including seven on ground balls. Boyd became the first Guardians starter to complete five innings and earn a win in the 2024 playoffs.
Cade Smith whiffed Judge on four pitches in the sixth, the last strike coming on a wicked splitter down and in after three straight 95 mph fastballs. Smith needed 10 pitches to get through his inning. All of them were strikes.
Tim Herrin walked Jazz Chisholm Jr to open the seventh, but got Jon Berti on a grounder to Jose Ramirez that started a double play. After Anthony Volpe drove a double into the left field corner, Herrin took care of Alex Verdugo on a harmless pop to Steven Kwan.
Gaddis struck out Trevino and retired Gleyber Torres on a grounder to second before walking Juan Soto on four straight pitches.
That set up Clase vs. Judge, two of the biggest human variances in baseball this season, and both in line to take home a boatload of postseason awards.
- Judge led the majors with 58 home runs and 144 RBI. The presumptive American League MVP also led baseball in on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701), on-base plus slugging (1.159), walks (133), times on base (322), game-winning RBI (24) and go-ahead RBI (32).
- Clase led all major league relievers with 0.61 ERA and was second in the majors with a .064 batting average against with runners in scoring position. He allowed home runs in just two appearances across 74 1/3 innings and still earned saves in both of those outings.
- Clase’s control was elite. He walked just 10 out of 270 batters faced. He converted 36 consecutive saves after May 20, including the postseason. The Guardians were 66-8 when he pitched in a regular season game.
But Judge took him deep for just his fourth home run allowed in 2024 including two in the regular season and two in the playoffs. Judge has seven go-ahead home runs in the postseason, tying Derek Jeter for third-most in Yankees history behind Babe Ruth and Bernie Williams (8).
“Aaron Judge is one of the best hitters on this planet, and it was a fun matchup to watch,” Vogt said. “I wish it would have gone the other way, but we’re fortunate that we got this one, and we’re going to be ready to go tomorrow.”
Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase (48) walks off the field after giving up the lead during eighth inning action in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees at Progressive Field on Thursday, October 17, 2024.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Boyd said rallying around Clase is what the Guardians are all about.
“He has the ball every single time with the game on the line, and I’m going to take him over whoever is in the box every single time,” Boyd said. “Our whole club feels the same way.”
What happened after Clase met Judge showed exactly who Cleveland is as a team.
“We just keep fighting,” Boyd said. “Like I said, it’s in our DNA, and that’s what we hang our hat on.”
