Yankees get a wake-up call in ALCS Game 3 loss to Guardians
New York Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver watches a two-run home by Cleveland Guardians' Jhonkensy Noel during the ninth inning in ALCS Game 3 on Thursday. Credit: AP/Jeff Roberson
CLEVELAND
When the Yankees reported to work on Friday, the echoes from Thursday night’s stunning loss in Game 3 of the ALCS probably still could be heard around Progressive Field.
One out — and then one strike — away from clinching a three-games-to-none lead in a series that will determine which club represents the American League in the World Series, Yankees closer Luke Weaver gave up a double by Lane Thomas (after getting ahead of him 0-and-2) and a tying two-run home run by Jhonkensy Noel in the ninth.
With two outs in the 10th, Clay Holmes surrendered a walk-off two-run home run by David Fry. The 7-5 victory gave the Guardians new life in the best-of-seven series heading into Friday night’s Game 4.
You know what else the shocking Game 3 result should have done? It should have woken up the Yankees.
(And maybe it did. Gleyber Torres singled and Juan Soto homered to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead two batters into Game 4.)
The Yankees had won five of their first six games of this postseason without playing particularly well. They came within one out (and one strike) of making it six of seven despite showing the same lapses on Thursday, most noticeably terrible hitting with runners in scoring position and baserunning blunders that would make Little League coaches think about canceling the post-game pizza party.
And the defense at first base? Let's just say it was like a trip to Adventureland regardless of whether it was Jon Berti or sore-fingered Anthony Rizzo manning the position on Thursday.
If Weaver had closed it out — something he did in each of the Yankees’ previous postseason victories — the Yankees could have continued to ignore their biggest flaws.
But maybe it will be beneficial in the long run to have taken a shot to the chops.
All teams face adversity at some point in the postseason. After a mostly sweat-free four-game ousting of the Royals in the ALDS and two wins against Cleveland, the Yankees took a gut punch on Thursday.
“We've had adversity, and these guys haven't flinched at really anything,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We've had some tough losses when we've been in the midst of some tough stretches, and these guys come in ready to roll every day and are able to flush it pretty easy.
“And it's the playoffs, man. You're going to have games like this when you get into an epic battle and sometimes you're on the losing end. You dust yourself off and get ready for a big one tomorrow.”
It was epic because of the back-to-back home runs by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth off closer Emmanuel Clase that gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead.
It was epic because of the way the Guardians came back in the ninth and then walked it off in the 10th.
“It’s a great baseball game if you’re a fan watching,” Rizzo said. “On both sides.”
The Yankees, though, continued to make crucial mistakes:
They continued to get picked off bases (one game after Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Rizzo were caught off second in the same inning, Jose Trevino was caught off first in the second inning on Thursday).
They continued to have atrocious numbers with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-8, with the only hit Trevino’s RBI single in the second. Going into Friday, the Yankees were 9-for-60 (.150) in those situations.
Boone shook up the lineup for Game 4, moving the slumping Chisholm to cleanup and dropping slumping Austin Wells all the way to eighth.
“Haven't totally necessarily broken through offensively,” Boone said, “but I feel like we have given ourselves a lot of chances night in and night out . . . Hopefully in one of these games, we really break out and throw a big one up there.”
Maybe with a bit more clutch hitting and a bit less getting picked off, the Yankees wouldn’t have needed Weaver to be their multi-inning savior again. Thursday’s outing was the fourth for Weaver that was for more than one inning. He had appeared in all seven Yankees postseason games going into Friday. Will that take a toll for the rest of the series?
“It's that time of year,” Boone said. “You try and preserve as many bullets as you can, and I thought overall he threw the ball pretty well, and they got him right there.”
See how the Dodgers bludgeoned the Mets in three of the five NLCS games? The Yankees certainly have had opportunities to hang double-digit runs on the Guardians, and that would have taken pressure off the bullpen triumvirate of Weaver, Holmes and Tommy Kahnle.
Holmes also has appeared in each of the first seven games, Kahnle in five of them.
Bottom line: The Yankees have bigger aspirations than just getting to the World Series. They want to, and expect to, win it all. Their fans sure were thinking World Series with two outs in the ninth on Thursday, even if the players weren’t.
“I really wouldn’t say [we were] looking ahead to the World Series,” Judge said. “We’ve got [to win] another game even if it was 3-0. This team does such a good job of focusing on this game. The game you’ve got tonight, that’s all you’ve got.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.