Alan Kornspan
Believeland Media
Sports, like life, is full of emotional swings.
And on Thursday night at Progressive Field, fans of the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees certainly saw a contest with many ups and downs.
With the prospect of going down 3-0 in the ALCS to the Yankees, the Guardians battled back in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game at 5-5 on a dramatic two-run home run by Jhonkensy “Big Christmas” Noel.
Then, as if one dramatic home run was not enough, David Fry went yard in the bottom of the tenth with a 2-run home run, sending fans at Progressive Field into a frenzy.
After the 7-5 victory over the Yankees, Guardians manager Steven Vogt talked to the media.
“That was an incredible game on both sides,” said Vogt. “All the emotions, ups and downs, back and forth, you name it. If there's an emotion, we all felt it on both sides. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. That's exactly who we are. We never quit. We get punched in the teeth pretty hard there in the eighth, and our guys stepped up huge for the guy that carried us all year long. That was really fun to see.”
The Yankees got the scoring started in the second inning as they took a 1-0 lead.
The Guardians then took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a 2-run home run by Kyle Manzardo on a 3-1 pitch.
The Guardians added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Andreas Gimenez.
Leading 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees tied the game at 3-3 on Aaron Judge's two run home run off Guardians all-star closer Emanuel Clase.
The Yankees then took a 4-3 lead on the next at bat when Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run off of Clase.
The Yankees added a run in the top of the 9th to go up 5-3.
In the bottom of the 9th, down to their final strike, Lane Thomas doubled off the left field wall.
Then pinch hitting for Daniel Schneeman in the bottom of the 9th innning, Jhonkensy “Big Christmas” Noel hit a 2-run home run to send the game into extra innings.
“This is what we do the whole season,” said Noel about his home run after the game. “I try to get ready on the back whenever the manager calls me, and I started to get loose. So I was able to secure my plan. The plan was to look at pitches close to my body and I was able to get one and execute it. We're a team that don't quit. We play 27 outs, so that's kind of what happened today.”
After holding the Yankees scoreless in the top of the 10th, David Fry hit a game winning two run home run to give the Guardians a 7-5 victory over the Yankees.
“Yeah, obviously Clay is a really tough at-bat, especially for a righty with that sinker-slider combo,” said Fry. “I guess it was my second at-bat off of Weaver was no good at all. And I was just like, I just told God, like hey, man, take this. It's a tough matchup, just try to have fun, you take the at-bat, got behind in the count and just got a pitch up in the zone and luckily it went out.Yeah, obviously Clay is a really tough at-bat, especially for a righty with that sinker-slider combo. I guess it was my second at-bat off of Weaver was no good at all. And I was just like, I just told God, like hey, man, take this. It's a tough matchup, just try to have fun, you take the at-bat, got behind in the mcount and just got a pitch up in the zone and luckily it went out.”
The Guardians will look to even the ALCS at 2-2 on Friday night.
Yorumlar