Aaron Judge determined to win Game 4 and send ALDS back to Bronx

CLEVELAND — The heroes of what appeared to be  a Yankees victory in Game 3 of the AL Division Series on Saturday night were lined up to take their bows. 

There was Luis Severino, who overcame a shaky start to pitch with the lead into the sixth; 

There was Aaron Judge, who broke out of his ALDS slump with a mammoth two-run home run in the third; 

There was rookie Oswaldo Cabrera, who gave the Yankees the lead with a two-run home run in the fifth and then did a stylized move to admire the blast. 

None of it mattered, though, when the Guardians scored three times in the ninth to take a stunning 6-5 victory and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.  

Cleveland has a chance to close it out on Sunday night at Progressive Field. Judge and Co. say they are determined to not let that happen. They want to win on Sunday and force a Game 5 on Monday at Yankee Stadium. 

“We’re playing [Sunday’s] game no matter what,” Judge said. “Lost a tough one tonight. We’ve just got to come back and win these next two games and take it back to the Bronx. It’s as simple as that. They came out there, they battled, they put some tough at-bats against us. This team, we’ve been dealing with adversity all year long. This is nothing new to us. Keep our heads up, go out there and just do our job.” 

Severino did his job after a wobbly start. He allowed hits to six of the first 10 batters he faced and was down 2-0 with one out in the second. With Domingo German warming in the bullpen, Severino was one bad pitch away from coming out of the game.  

Severino got it together, getting the final two outs of the second on hard-hit fly balls. That started a string of 13 consecutive batters retired by the righthander, who hadn’t pitched since Oct. 3.  

As Severino steadied himself, the Yankees  gave him a lead. Judge tied it with a 449-foot two-run home run to center in the third. 

Judge, who struck out in the first after being moved to second in the order, had been 0-for-9 with eight strikeouts and a walk in the series before his home run. 

“I was just happy to get there and tie the game up,” he said.  

Cabrera was 1-for-9 with five strikeouts when he gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead with a two-run shot to right in the fifth. He admired his first postseason home run at home plate before doing an epic bat flip. 

Both blasts came off Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie. 

Severino departed after allowing consecutive two-out singles in the sixth. The Guardians made it 4-3 on pinch hitter Will Brennan’s single off reliever Lou Trivino. Trivino preserved the lead by getting Myles Straw to line out to Gleyber Torres to end the inning, and Harrison Bader made it 5-3 with a home run in the seventh. 

That’s where it stood until the fateful ninth.  

Now the Yankees' season could end on Sunday. 

“We can’t sit here and sulk on it,” Judge said. “We’ve got a big game [Sunday] and couldn’t get it done today. But we’ll go and do it [Sunday].” 

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

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.