Cleveland’s baseball club was known as the Blues when the American League was formed in 1901, but that’s far from what Guardians fans were singing following Thursday’s ALCS Game 3. Two days before A Tribe Called Quest and other musical luminaries are to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Progressive Field erupted in rapture as David Fry circled the bases in the bottom of the 10th inning to cap a stunning comeback and give the Guardians a 7-5 win.
More on that in a moment.
The first inning featured missed opportunities — both teams stranded a pair of runners — as well as a pitch clock violation on a chagrinned Juan Soto and a sliding catch by Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas. That those happenings barely qualify as footnotes says a lot about what would eventually transpire. Ditto a second inning that saw Alex Verdugo chop a ball over first baseman Josh Naylor’s head and leg out a sliding double on a play where second base umpire Jansen Visconti ruled that Brayan Rocchio had a foot blocking the bag (that was debatable). Anthony Volpe advanced to third on the hit, then scored on a Jose Trevino groundball single that made it 1-0 Yankees. Guardians starter Matthew Boyd proceeded to pick off Trevino, which helped to limit the damage.
The third inning produced what for awhile looked like it might be the game’s biggest hit. With Rocchio on first base following a single, Kyle Manzardo mashed a Clarke Schmidt sinker 395 feet for a go-ahead two-run homer, giving Cleveland its first lead of the series.
More footnotes followed. Austin Hedges doubled in the fourth inning, making him the first Cleveland catcher to log a hit so far in the postseason, this after an 0-for-24 start (a far more important hit by a Guardians backstop would come later). Shortly thereafter, Boyd became the first Cleveland pitcher to go as many as five innings in the postseason, a feat he accomplished in impressive fashion. The southpaw retired the last 10 Yankees he faced, seven of them on groundballs. Baseball’s best bullpen then worked the final five frames, bringing to mind a historical fact: When Cleveland last won the World Series in 1948, the team’s relievers combined to throw just four and two-thirds innings over six games. Another footnote? Cade Smith, who replaced Boyd and proceeded to set down Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton in order, has allowed just two hits and one run, with 15 strikeouts, so far this postseason.
The bottom of the sixth saw the Guardians push across an insurance run. Thomas drew a walk against Ian Hamilton, advanced to second on a groundball, and then scored when Andrés Giménez squeaked a seeing-eye single through a drawn-in infield with Tim Mayza on the mound. It was now 3-1 Guardians, and it remained that way until the Yankees batted in the eighth.
It was at this point that a game that might have been described as relatively nondescript, save for a few interesting plays, morphed into a classic.
Hunter Gaddis came on for Cleveland, and after easily retiring Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres, he issued a four-pitch walk to Soto. With Judge coming to the plate, Stephen Vogt went to his closer. What happened next was every bit as unexpected and wow-inducing as what happened in Game 2 of the ALDS. Ten days after surrendering a tie-breaking, ninth-inning three-run homer to Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter, Emmanuel Clase served up a pitch that Judge rifled over the right field fence to draw New York even.
Then it was Stanton’s turn. The slugging DH hammered a 89.5-mph slider over the center field fence and suddenly it was 4-3 Yankees. New York’s bench was ecstatic, while Cleveland’s crowd sat in stunned silence.
After the Guardians failed to score in the bottom of the eighth despite putting two runners on, the Yankees added a run amid a Jekyll and Hyde sequence by the Cleveland defense. A Volpe walk to lead off the inning was followed by Verdugo pulling a hard groundball to the right side on a run-and-hit, with Giménez somehow managing to snare the .580 wBA shot. Anticipating a base hit, Volpe tore around second, only to have the Gold Glove finalist adroitly recognize the over-aggression and throw to third, creating a pickle. But the Guardians botched it. José Ramírez snow-coned a throw as Volpe was bearing down on him, subsequently dropping the ball as the two collided. The Yankees shortstop was safe at third, and following a Wells strikeout, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Torres. The insurance run gave the visitors a 5-3 lead.
Which brings us to the bottom of the ninth inning, a frame that served as a reminder that baseball is not only unpredictable, it is wonderfully fun.
Luke Weaver had fanned Fry to end the eighth inning, and when he induced a 1-6-3 double play from Naylor, the Yankees were an out away from a 3-0 series lead. But the Guardians weren’t done yet. Down to his last strike, Thomas drilled a 3-2 pitch high off the center field fence for a double, bringing the potential tying run to the plate for the second time in the frame.
Moments later, potential became realization. Twenty-three-year-old rookie Jhonkensy Noel turned on a Weaver changeup, pummeling it 404 feet, deep into the Cleveland night. In breathtaking fashion, the game was tied once again.
Giménez made sure it stayed that way in the top of the 10th. A Judge strikeout was followed by a Stanton walk, after which the defensively gifted infielder pulled off a web gem. Giménez went deep into the hole on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounder and threw him out from the outfield grass, with Naylor managing to keep a toe on the bag while stretching for the toss.
That Jasson Domínguez, running for Stanton, advanced to second on the play ended up being immaterial. Pedro Avila, on as the Guardians’ eighth pitcher of the night, issued an intentional walk to Anthony Rizzo, then fanned Volpe. The bottom half was next, and it was one that Guardians fans won’t soon forget.
Bo Naylor, who was 0-for-14 in the postseason going into the game and had replaced the pinch-hit-for Hedges behind the plate, led off with a single, was sacrificed to second by Rocchio, and went to third on a Steven Kwan groundout. That brought up Fry.
What happened next will go down in Cleveland baseball lore. Putting on his Superman cape, the most unlikely member of this season’s American League All-Star team belted a Clay Holmes sinker into Progressive Field’s left field seats. Delirium and bedlam ruled the night.
As the Yankees trudged dejectedly off the field and Northeast Ohio exalted, legendary Cleveland broadcaster Tom Hamilton spoke these words to Jim Rosenhaus, his radio partner:
“Rosie, you may never see a better baseball game than this one.”
