Rollercoaster! NY 8 Cleveland 6

Giancarlo Stanton hits a Missile of a 3-run homer in the 6th to put NY up 6-2.

As devastating at the prior night’s loss was — when Ecstasy turned into Agony — this one made everything right again for Yankee fans — Agony to Ecstasy.

In an absolute rollercoaster of events and emotions — Giancarlo Stanton hit a 3-run bomb in the top of the 6th to break open a nail-biter of a 3-2 game, giving NY a 6-2 lead — but Cleveland came back to make it a nail biter again — tying it 6-6 in the bottom of the 8th when Anthony Rizzo Bill Buckner-ed a short toss to him by pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. for the final out of the inning.

Rizzo made up for it with a leadoff single in the 9th that kicked off a 2-run rally putting NY back up 8-6 — and Tommy Kahnle held off a Guardian uprising in the bottom of the 9th, getting the final out with 2 runners on to give NY a 3-games-to-1 lead in the best of 7 series.

On a Friday night in Cleveland.

“Not surprised with these guys.” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Obviously last night’s a really tough loss, and whatever happened today — win, lose or draw — there was no doubt in my mind we’d come out ready to roll, ready to turn the page — and right out of the gate, Gleyber (Torres) gets on, (Luis) Soto HR, we’re off and running; Luis Gil does his job and I thought we played an excellent game. Not a perfect game, but a gritty, tough winning game.”

1. Yanks JUMP on top with Soto HR

The Yanks were coming off the devastating loss of the night before — facing 6’6 righthander Gavin Williams — a 24-year-old, 6’6 righty who throws 98-99 MPH. Williams was only 3-10 4.86 during the regular season as Cleveland’s 5th starter, but pitched better than that, and actually had the 3rd lowest ERA on the team in this his 2nd season.

NY eradicated the bad vibes immediately when Gleyber Torres hit the first pitch of the game for a single and Juan Soto hit a 98-MPH 3-1 fastball for a 2-run homer to right. NY 2 Cleveland 0 just like that.

2. Wells HR Puts NY up 3-1

Cleveland came right back against Luis Gil in the bottom of the 1st — Steven Kwan leading off with a walk and Kyle Manzardo ripping a double to right for 2nd and 3rd nobody out. Jose Ramirez hit a sac fly to make it 2-1 before Gil got Josh Naylor to pop out and struck out Lane Thomas to end the inning.

But Austin Wells got the Yanks back the run in the top of the 2nd — after Gavin Williams struck out the first 2 batters of the inning, Wells got hold of a 97-MPH fastball and put it into the centerfield seats.  Wells has been in an awful slump and was finally pulled out of the cleanup spot for this game — put in the 8th spot in the order. He responded.

3. Gil Good

Gil, who hadn’t pitched since the end of the regular season, pitched well. He was rusty and not in full rhythm, but his easy-motion delivery and hard fastball allowed him to give the Yanks 4 solid innings against the tough Cleveland lineup.

Gil pitched a shutout 2nd inning, then got clipped for a run but limited the damage in the 3rd: Steven Kwan led off with a single, but Gil got Manzardo to fly out and Ramirez to pop out before Kwan stole 2nd and scored on a 2-out bloop single to opposite-field left that Josh Naylor barely got his bat on. Gil walked Lane Thomas to put 2 runners on but struck out Daniel Schneemann in a 9-pitch at bat wherein Schneemann kept fouling off pitches.

Gil pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 4th and seemed to be just getting into rhythm but was at 80 pitches and Boone pulled him, sending Tim Hill out for the 5th with NY holding a 3-2 lead.

4. Hill Good

Lefty Tim Hill has been a champion middle-inning reliever for the Yanks in the 2nd half of the season, and so it was in this game — he came in for the 5th in the tense 3-2 game and easily got through the heart of the Cleveland lineup — getting Kwan to groundout, David Fry (hitting for Monzardo) to lineout, allowing an infield single to Ramirez, but striking out Josh Naylor.

5. Giancarlo 3-Run MISSILE Puts NY Up 6-2

Cleveland went to their pen early — Erik Sabrowski for getting the last 2 outs of the 3rd and a shutout 4th, Eli Morgan pitching a shutout 5th, and Cade Smith in for the 6th — he and his 6-1 1.91 regular season record as Cleveland’s #2 reliever.

Smith faced the heart of the NY lineup — and the heart of the NY lineup won. Juan Soto led off with a walk, and Aaron Judge hit a bullet past shortstop for a single into left.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.— who has been horrid but was injected to the cleanup spot in the order with Austin Wells demoted to 8th, so NY could go righty-lefty-righty — bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd — a nice at bat from Jazz.

With 1st base open, Smith could have intentionally walked Giancarlo Stanton, but didn’t. Instead he got ahead of Giancarlo 0-2, but Giancarlo took a ball, fouled off a pitch, then rocked a 1-2 fastball DEEP INTO THE NIGHT — a MISSILE to left for a 6-2 Yankee lead.

6. Cousins Good for an Inning

Kirk Cousins’ cousin Jake Cousin was in for the 6th and what a good face he was to see, after being shut down for the last 2 weeks of the regular season, and facing 1 batter in the series against KC. Especially with Ian Hamilton being put on the IL with a sprained ankle before the game.

Cousins pitched a shutout 6th — lineout, strikeout, single, strikeout — and the Yanks maintained their 6-2 lead.

7. Holmes Butchers Lead in 7th

But in the 7th, Cousins allowed a leadoff walk to Brayan Rocchio and a single to Steven Kwan and here we go again.

In came Clay Holmes — and Yankee fans buckled up their seat belts.

Holmes had just allowed the walk-off game-winning homer to David Fry the night before, and Fry would be the first batter he faced. Holmes struck him out.

1 out.

But Yankee fans know the Clay Holmes Rollercoaster Ride can begin at any time — with 0 or 1 or 2 outs in an inning. And so it began.

Holmes got ahead of Jose Ramirez o-2 — but then tried too hard — nearly bouncing 3 straight pitches — a slider, a sinker, and a slider — to go 3-2, before Ramirez ripped a shot to the right-field corner for a double and 6-3 game.

And then a double by Josh Naylor making it a 6-5 game. Boone wouldn’t pull him — leaving him in for one more batter — and Holmes walked that batter — Lane Thomas — and was finally Yanked.

8. Leiter to the Rescue

With runners on 1st and 2nd, and 1 out in a 6-5 game, in came Mark Leiter Jr.— who the Yanks had traded for at the trade deadline and had been horrible until late in the season when he finally showed some signs of life as Boone continued to go with him to the detestation of many Yankee fans.

Leiter had just been put on the post-season roster earlier in the day when Ian Hamilton was put on the IL with a sprained ankle.

And Boone’s late-season moves paid off — Leiter was on his game.

First batter was pinch hitter Jhonkensy Noel — who hit the game-tying homer the night before in the 9th. The broadcast cameras panned the many fans in the Cleveland crowd dressed in red Santa Claus attire. Noel hit a SHOT for a homer Foul. PHEW.

Next pitch Noel hit a 3-run homer to left — gone — except it wasn’t — the line drive caught at the wall by Alex Verdugo. PHEWWWWWW. Everyone watching thought it was gone.

Leiter then struck out Andres Gimenez swinging on a 2-2 pitch to end the inning. ROLLERCOASTER!

9. Rizzo Fucks Up

And then to the bottom of the 8th, the Yanks and Leiter still nursing the 6-5 lead in a nail biter.

Bo Naylor led off with a double — and here we go again.

But Mark Leiter Jr.got tough — getting Rocchio to ground out, moving Naylor to 3rd, and Steven Kwan to pop out!

With 2 outs, Leiter got Fry to hit a weak grounder toward 1st — Leiter knocked it down, charged it and flipped it to Rizzo a few feet from him at 1st — but Rizzo couldn’t handle the easy catch! He Bill Buckner-ed it — it went through his legs — as Fry was safe and Naylor scored — Tie Game 6-6. The cursing that could be heard all around NY and on Twitter.

Importantly, Leiter hung tough — with Fry on 2nd, he intentionally walked Jose Ramirez, then struck out Josh Naylor and we were on to the 9th in a tie game.

10. Rizzo Starts Game-Winning Rally

And then Anthony Rizzo made up for his blunder — a lead off single off Emmanuel Clase the ace Cleveland reliever who had just surrendered the homers to Judge and Stanton the night before.

Anthony Volpe, up next, singled pinch-runner Jon Berti to 3rd. Then Volpe stole 2nd base.

Clase struck out Austin Wells — but Alex Verdugo came through with a nibbler to shortstop that Rocchio couldn’t come up with — the run would have scored in any case but Verdugo ended up safe at 1st as well. NY 7 Cleveland 6.

Gleyber Torres then got a CLUTCH single to center and it was 8-6 NY.

11. Tommy Tightpants for the Save

To the bottom of the 9th — Yankee fans buckled up once again. Tommy Tightpants Kahnle stayed in.

He struck out Lane Thomas, but walked Noel, and Gimenez hit a single to right. Here we go again.

But Kahnle got Bo Naylor to fly out to Judge in center, and Rocchio to hit a grounder to 2nd, where Gleyber fielded and threw to Oswaldo Cabrera at 1st for the old ballgame!

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401701053

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*