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  • Cole, Yankees save season, beat Guards to force ALDS Game 5

    Cole, Yankees save season, beat Guards to force ALDS Game 5

    CLEVELAND — Gerrit Cole brought the Yankees back from the brink. They’re Bronx bound, still chasing a championship.

    Cole gave New York what it needed, seven solid innings and Harrison Bader hit a two-run homer as the Yankees saved their season and forced a decisive fifth game in the AL Division Series with a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 4 on Sunday night.

    “This series certainly isn’t over, and we have bigger goals,” Cole said. “But I’m definitely having the time of my life and I love it and I can’t wait to keep going.”

    New York’s $324 million man, Cole allowed two runs and struck out eight in beating the Guardians for the second time in six days. He didn’t dominate, but Cole kept Cleveland’s hitters off base and off balance.

    Bader homered for the third time in the best-of-five series, connecting in the second inning off Cal Quantrill, who came in unbeaten in 44 games at Progressive Field.

    After blowing Game 3 on Saturday, when the Yankees’ bullpen had its greatest meltdown in the team’s storied postseason history, New York recovered and is headed home.

    New York will start Game 2 loser Jameson Taillon against Aaron Civale on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

    The winner advances to meet Houston in the AL Championship Series.

    Josh Naylor homered for the Guardians, who are trying to end Major League Baseball’s current longest World Series drought in their first year after a franchise name change. Cleveland hasn’t won it all since 1948.

    With a history of postseason heartbreak, Cleveland teams are 1-7 in winner-take-all games.

    “You know if you would have told me back in March, we just signed up to play Game 5 in New York to go to the ALCS, I would have jogged to New York,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “I’m excited.”

    Cole was pulled after 110 pitches and Yankees manager Aaron Boone brought in closer Clay Holmes for the eighth. Holmes didn’t pitch in Game 3 after Boone decided to shut him down but didn’t tell the right-hander.

    Holmes struck out Amed Rosario and All-Star José Ramírez in the eighth before Wandy Peralta finished for the save. Working his third straight day, Peralta retired three batters on just seven pitches.

    “Our guys had that look in their eyes tonight, and it starts with Gerrit,” said first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “It’s a complete win for us and that’s who we are and that’s the wins we need to have.”

    The Guardians weren’t supposed to be here. But they won the AL Central, swept Tampa Bay in the wild-card round and had the Yankees on the cusp of elimination. All Cleveland’s kids have to do now is beat the Yankees in baseball’s most hostile environment.

    This was the kind of game the Yankees envisioned Cole pitching in when they signed him to a nine-year contract in 2019 as a free agent after he spent two seasons with the Astros.

    There was no magic this time for the Guardians, who overcame a two-run deficit in the ninth inning on Saturday to win Game 3 in dramatic fashion.

    Cleveland not only rallied against New York’s bullpen on Saturday, but the Guardians became the first team in 168 games to overcome a multi-run deficit and beat the Yankees in the postseason.

    The Guardians closed within 3-2 in the fourth on Naylor’s second career postseason homer — and third homer in 17 at-bats — off Cole.

    Naylor’s laser shot into the seats fronting the outfield bullpens sent Cleveland’s crowd into a frenzy that got wilder as the animated DH circled the bases swinging his arms back in forth as if he was rocking a baby.

    Bader’s 429-foot shot into the left-field bleachers put the Yankees ahead 3-0 in the second, and not only gave them momentum but belief they would even the series following their gutting loss in Game 3.

    New York’s dugout erupted with shouts and fist pumps as Bader rounded first following his fifth hit in six career at-bats off Quantrill. He also homered in Game 1, when Cole and the Yankees beat Quantrill.

    The Guardians got a run back in the third, but missed a chance for more when Ramírez got a little overaggressive on the base paths.

    With runners at first and second, Ramírez dropped a bloop into left field that scored rookie Steven Kwan. Thinking he had a chance to take an extra base, Ramírez went about halfway to second before realizing he had no chance and got thrown out retreating to first.

    HAND HIM AN OSCAR

    Oscar Gonzalez’s quick rise from rookie to postseason has mirrored Cleveland’s stunning jump to World Series contender.

    While the 24-year-old, who has twice walked-off postseason wins with clutch hit, has an aggressive approach at the plate, he’s also a selective hitter — most of the time.

    “He swung at a ball in in the fifth inning that almost hit him in the Adam’s apple,” Francona said, recalling a Game 3 at-bat. “And he comes back and that was an at-bat he went deep to right field. He’s a little unique.”

    BULLPEN BUSINESS

    Boone spent much of his pregame news conference attempting to clarify the communication breakdown between him and Holmes in Game 3.

    After the bullpen melted down, Holmes, who was recently sidelined with a shoulder strain, told reporters he was available. Boone, though, said he never informed the right-hander he was down, creating confusion and awkwardness.

    Boone said he decided not to pitch Holmes on consecutive days so as not to risk his health. Holmes reported soreness after pitching in Game 2.

    Boone said he and Holmes “hashed it out.”

    “He could have pitched and 1, 2, 3, boom, we win,” Boone said. “That’s one of the tough decisions that comes across that we try to make thoughtfully.”

    UP NEXT

    Making his first career relief appearance, Taillon allowed two runs ad three hits without recording an out in Game 2. Civale hasn’t pitched since Oct. 5. He’s won his last three starts with a 3.18 ERA. The right-hander was on the injured list three times this season.

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    More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Gerrit Cole Answers Skeptics By Shining Under The Yankee Stadium Lights

    Gerrit Cole Answers Skeptics By Shining Under The Yankee Stadium Lights

    Gerrit Cole produced plenty of good moments through the 99-win regular season but also did enough things wrong to provide skepticism among fans, especially on the social media portion of the internet.

    Perhaps scarred by the AL-worst 33 homers allowed, including the nine to Boston and possibly fearful of a reprise of last night’s nightmarish appearance in the wild card game at Fenway Park, the apprehension was there along with this question:

    Should Gerrit Cole start Game 1 of a postseason series?

    It was not only a topic among fans but a private discussion by the Yankees in their postseason planning meetings, though it seemed like a brief conversation before Cole ultimately was tapped for the start.

    On Tuesday, there were a few anxious moments such as the 2-0 fastball Steven Kwan hit into the right field seats, sending pitching coach Matt Blake for a quick consultation. The next few at-bats that followed were also a little apprehensive for some when Cole loaded the bases as part of throwing 60 pitches through three innings.

    The early 60-pitch sequence ended with a nasty slider Andres Gimenez swung at for strike three, one pitch after not getting a call on a close offering. Then quick innings and Cole only allowed two more baserunners allowed while the Yankees took a lead.

    “It was just a really awesome experience overall,” Cole said. “Just sometimes when you feel the crowd or the energy, it sometimes can become a little easier just to quiet things down because it’s so loud. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it does to me. I mean, just what a great atmosphere.”

    A few hours later, Cole was the talk of the first of the of 11 wins the Yankees hope to get in their first championship since 2009 and it was more special for everyone involved since it was the moment he waited since being introduced at the standard lavish press conference on Dec. 18, 2019, the day he was accompanied by his famous childhood sign: “Yankee fan forever, Yankee fan today”.

    That sign made its appearance in the 2001 World Series 18 years before he signed the record $324 million contract but for various reasons, the postseason under the lights in a packed house in the Bronx eluded Cole until Tuesday.

    First there was the COVID-19 pandemic that led to the 60-game season. During the truncated season, a midseason slump kept the Yankees from hosting an home game in an empty stadium and they traveled to Cleveland where Cole dominated the opener. Then there were two games in the ALDS against Tampa Bay being played in San Diego and Cole did his part in Games 1 and 5 where the Yankees in a normal setup would be in Tropicana Field.

    Last year as baseball trickled back towards normalcy, the Yankees sputtered through an inconsistent first half that likely cost them an AL East title. Eventually they found their footing but sputtered again in September and wound up not clinching the postseason until their final at-bat of the regular season and when they did it was merely for the trip to Boston where Cole could not get out of the third while pitching on a hamstring he tweaked during the Yankees’ seven-game losing streak a month earlier.

    Cole was the runner-up in the Cy Young voting to Robbie Ray, who was last seen allowing a 438-foot homer to Yordan Alvarez in Houston as the Yankees lined up for their baseline introductions.

    On Monday, Cole seemed locked in with his answers with short clipped answers at the podium, talking as if he would rather be in the high intensity setting of a bullpen session than in a big room with pictures of Yankee history on the side walls and offering his common detailed answers. It was there he relayed an exchange with catcher Brian McCann upon joining Houston:

    “You know the postseason is a drug, right?” I said, “Yeah, it is. It is.” You just can’t get enough of it.”

    If Cole pitches as well as Tuesday, he and the Yankees may get more than enough of the postseason. There’s still a long way to go but this was a good start and validation of Boone’s defense of Cole, who sometimes can appear flustered at circumstances.

    “Really good season,” Boone said Monday. “Obviously because it’s Gerrit Cole and because he came here and signed a huge contract, the long term, and the ace of this staff, the New York Yankees staff, nothing will ever be necessarily good enough. But I think he’s had a very strong year.”

    And for one night it was good enough just like his six scoreless starts, his two flirtations with no-hitters in June.

    “Gerrit was really good,” Boone said. “He did a really good job of owning the moment and being unpredictable. And I thought his breaking ball was really on point.”

    Larry Fleisher, Contributor

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