Once again the Yankees took an early lead on the road, but this time it held up, forcing a decisive Game 5 on Monday in New York.
CLEVELAND — When the Yankees made Gerrit Cole the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history with a nine-year, $324 million contract before the 2020 season, they did so with October glory in mind. They saw him as a missing piece in their pursuit of a World Series title, which, despite all of their spending and efforts, has eluded the franchise since 2009.
Asked to save the Yankees from elimination on Sunday in Game 4 of this American League division series against the Cleveland Guardians, Cole, 32, delivered seven strong innings, overcame a potential costly error in his final frame and largely spared the depleted Yankees bullpen.
Last year, Cole struggled against the Boston Red Sox in the do-or-die A.L. wild-card game, which the Yankees lost by four runs. But given another chance with the season on the line, Cole held a pesky Guardians lineup in check and guided the Yankees to a taut 4-2 win that evened the best-of-five series at two games apiece and forced a winner-take-all Game 5. Both of the Yankees’ wins this series were games started by Cole.
“He just kept slowing himself down, making sure he executed,” Manager Aaron Boone said of Cole. “Obviously emptied the tank. You saw some emotion there at the end when he was probably out of gas the last two, three hitters. Just a huge, big-time performance in this environment and to get us back home.”
Cole said he didn’t change anything about his routine for the season-saving start.
“Preparing for this game, when he told me I was going Game 4 and there’s an opportunity to clinch or an opportunity to go home, I didn’t approach the game any different,” Cole said of Boone. “I just went out there and did my job.”
The Yankees’ and Guardians’ fates now come down to this: Game 5, at Yankee Stadium, on Monday night, the Yankees’ Jameson Taillon vs. the Guardians’ Aaron Civale to start.
The winner will advance to the A.L. Championship Series to face the perennially contending Houston Astros, who are making their sixth straight appearance in that round. Last year, the Astros lost the World Series to Atlanta.
“If you would have told me back in, I don’t know, March we just signed up to play Game 5 in New York, to go to the A.L.C.S., I would have jogged to New York,” Guardians Manager Terry Francona said. “I’m excited.”
During the first half of the 2022 regular season, the Yankees and Astros were the best teams in the A.L. But as the Yankees struggled in the second half, the Astros pulled away. While the teams secured the two first-round byes in the A.L., the Astros were the top seed because they won 106 games to the Yankees’ 99.
The Guardians, though, who won 92 games and the weaker A.L. Central during the regular season, have proven to be a difficult foe this postseason. But Cole, one of the game’s best strikeout pitchers, found ways to neutralize a Guardians lineup that puts the ball in play a lot. Although he gave up six hits, Cole wriggled out of jams and fanned eight Guardians to just one walk.
Cole also got some help from his offense, in particular center fielder Harrison Bader. Acquired just before the Aug. 2 trading deadline in a surprise swap with the St. Louis Cardinals, Bader didn’t made his Yankees debut until late September because of a foot injury. But since donning the pinstripes, Bader has provided a spark, especially in the postseason.
“An electric player, impact player,” Cole said of Bader. “Got moxie, got baseball awareness, gets after the ball on defense.”
In Game 1, Bader homered. He did so again in Game 3. And with the Yankees leading by 1-0 in the second inning Sunday, Bader homered again.
With third baseman Josh Donaldson on base after a single, Bader drubbed a cutter over the middle of the plate from Guardians starting pitcher Cal Quantrill and gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
“I’m here to play ball,” said Bader, a New York area native who grew up a Yankees fan. “I’m here to win. But to be able to do it in a Yankees uniform is definitely sweet, no doubt about it.”
But as the Yankees painfully learned the previous two games, the Guardians are relentless. As they have all series, the Guardians annoyed the Yankees with their ability to make a lot of contact with their bats and take away a lot of hits with their gloves.
With two men on and two outs in the third inning, Guardians third baseman José Ramírez, one of the best all-around players in baseball, lifted a Cole pitch out of the zone into left field for a bloop single that drove in a run. The Yankees, however, ended the inning when they threw Ramírez out on the bases.
An inning later, Guardians designated hitter Josh Naylor took advantage of Cole’s biggest weakness, his propensity to cough up home runs. He fouled off three Cole breaking balls before he got a low 98-mile-per-hour fastball that he could handle and trimmed the Guardians’ deficit to 3-2. As he trotted around the bases, Naylor rocked his arms as if he were holding a baby, perhaps in reference to beating Cole in that at-bat.
“Whatever. It’s cute,” said Cole, adding about Naylor’s celebration, “It’s funny.”
On defense, the Guardians kept the score close. With two Yankees on base in the fifth inning, Ramírez made a slick stop of Gleyber Torres’s ground ball to start a threat-ending double play with the All-Star second baseman Andrés Giménez.
To add a little more breathing room, the Yankees, who led the major leagues in home runs during the regular season, channeled the Guardians’ style in the sixth inning. The star right fielder Aaron Judge legged out an infield single, first baseman Anthony Rizzo followed with a double and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Judge.
Then came a critical moment for Cole. When Giménez singled with one out in the seventh inning, the normally sure-handed Bader bobbled the ball, allowing Giménez to take second base. With his bullpen worn down by usage and injuries, Boone kept Cole, at 101 pitches, in the game.
Cole struck out first baseman Gabriel Arias on six pitches, hitting 98 m.p.h. He then fanned the pinch-hitter Will Brennan with his 110th pitch, pumping his fist as he bounced off the mound. Although the right-hander Clay Holmes and the left-hander Wandy Peralta, who had thrown 27 pitches on Saturday in Game 3, combined to throw the final two innings, it was Cole who allowed the Yankees’ season to live at least another day.
“We feel like we’re in the driver’s seat,” Bader said. “That’s how we remain dangerous. I don’t think we want it any other way to return back to the Bronx.”
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