Yanks Blow Two-Run Lead, Lose 6–5
Bullpen implodes in ninth, Yankees face elimination
The New York Yankees fell to the Cleveland Guardians 6–5 on Saturday.
The loss puts them down 2–1 in the series and they face elimination tomorrow night.
Up 5–3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the club was three outs away from a crucial win.
But the Guardians scored three runs to win the game.
Wandy Peralta gave up two runs and Clarke Schmidt gave up the winning run.
“It’s a devastating loss,” John Flaherty in the YES Studio said.
Game summary
Cleveland got to Luis Severino early scoring one in both the first and second inning.
Josh Naylor and Steven Kwan both hit RBI singles to give Cleveland a 2–0 lead.
Triston McKenzie was cruising for the Guardians until the third inning when Aaron Judge tied the game with a two-run home run.
Oswaldo Cabrera came through in the fifth with his two-run blast.
Severino left two runners on base when he exited in the sixth. Lou Trivino came on and allowed a single to Will Brennan to cut the lead to 4–3.
Severino got through 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking none, and striking out six.
Harrison Bader joined the home run party with a solo homer in the seventh.
Jonathan Loáisiga got the first two outs in the seventh before giving way to Wandy Peralta, who got the last out of the inning and threw a perfect eighth.
After getting the first out in the ninth, two bloop singles left runners on the corners for the Guardians.
Peralta was taken out as Clarke Schmidt looked to get the final two outs of the game.
Schmidt allowed a single to make it 5–4 (charged to Peralta) and a bloop single to load the bases.
A strikeout of Naylor left one out away from victory, but Oscar Gonzalez hit an RBI single for his second walkoff hit of the postseason.
Two runs were charged to Peralta and one to Schmidt (0–1) who takes the loss.
Offensive summary
The scoreboard shows five runs, but they all came via the home run.
If the Yankees want to compete for their 28th world championship, the offense is going to have to hit for contact and score more traditional runs rather than relying on the long ball.
The injuries to DJ LeMahieu and Andrew Benintendi are being felt as they are the club’s two best contact hitters.
Currently, the unit is home run or bust.
After starting the postseason 0-for-9 with eight punch outs, Judge broke out in a big way with his 63rd home run this year.
Hopefully, this gets him going, as he and Giancarlo Stanton are the keys to this offense and how they perform.
Pitching summary
It took Sevy 55 pitches to get through the first two innings.
He allowed two runs, but the damage could have been much worse.
Cleveland had great at-bats. Every out was a fly ball to the warning track that just missed clearing the wall for a home run.
But after the shaky start, Severino retired 13 straight before allowing two hits with two outs in the sixth.
It didn’t look like he would be able to get through three innings to start. Pitching into the sixth was great for the Yankees and their bullpen.
Speaking of the bullpen, they were great up until the fateful ninth inning.
Manager Aaron Boone made an interesting move to stick with Peralta after he recorded the previous four outs instead of using Clay Holmes.
It was revealed postgame that Holmes was not available due to soreness. Boone did not want to use him in a back-to-back situation after he pitched in Friday’s game.
When Peralta ran into trouble, Schmidt came on, and he’s never been put in a high-leverage situation with this much pressure before, and it showed.
It cost the Yankees a game that they were one strike away from winning.
Looking ahead
Gerrit Cole (1–0) will get the ball and look to force a game five. Cal Quantrill (0–1) takes the mound for Cleveland.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. EST.
Let’s go Yankees!
