CLEVELAND — The Yankees were on the brink of the brink, one strike away from being one win away from the American League pennant. Luke Weaver, their rising star closer, was in trying to do what Emmanuel Clase, the Guardians’ great closer, couldn’t Thursday night in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. The Guardians were down two runs and down to their last out and Lane Thomas hitting with two strikes.
One more out and the Yankees would be up 3-games-to-none. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were going to the heroes with back-to-back homers in the eighth off Clase that turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. Then this epic postseason game that turned the Yankees way in the eighth inning got away from them.
With Weaver trying to finish off a four-out save with two outs in the ninth, Thomas doubled to keep it going and pinch-hitter Jhonkeysy Noel blasted a shot to left for a game-tying homer. Stunning. The next inning, it was ditto with Clay Holmes on the mound and the Yankees lost 7-5 in 10 innings on a two-run, walk-off homer by David Fry.
Want to bet on MLB? See the best NYC Sports Betting sites Crazy. “The other team is good, too,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Credit to them.
It sucks losing like that, but it was a classic game.” Clase replaced Gaddis with two outs in the Yankees eighth after Juan Soto walked on four pitches to face Judge. This was power vs.
power, greatness vs. greatness. Judge won.
Down in the count 0-2 and then 1-2, Judge .