Story by
'Bunts, bombs and chaos': How the Guardians pulled off a miracle in ALCS Game 3
- Story by
- 'Bunts, bombs and chaos': How the Guardians pulled off a miracle in ALCS Game 3
CLEVELAND — The swing of momentum was like a tidal wave swaying back and forth from dugout to dugout.
The Guardians were all but buried, in both this game and the series. The Yankees ' stars crushed back-to-back home runs off Cleveland's nearly invincible closer in the eighth inning to tie it and then take the lead. New York was on the verge of going up 3-0 in the series, and just about ending any hopes of the Guardians' playoff runs.
Advertisement
The Progressive Field crowd was stunned. The Yankees were one out away from stealing Game 3, and the Guardians would then have to win four consecutive games against the No. 1 seed in the American League after a truly back-breaking loss. The odds of recovering from that would be near zero.
Then Jhonkensy Noel grabbed a bat.
Cleveland Guardians' Jhonkensy Noel hits a two-run home run in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday in Cleveland.
Jhonkensy Noel ties ALCS Game 3 with monster home run in perfect pinch-hitting situation
Noel might be the perfect pinch-hit candidate for that situation, an all-or-nothing hitter who might miss a pitch by three feet and then hit the next one into the next county.
Noel was sent up to the plate to mash a home run and bring the Guardians back from the dead. He was looking on the inside part of the plate. Luke Weaver threw a changeup to exactly the wrong spot — or the right one, for Noel. And Big Christmas hammered it .
Advertisement
It's the type of pinch-hit situation that has allowed the Guardians bench to play such a key role in their playoff run to this point. Noel stepped to the plate, to a very large degree, with the Guardians' postseason lives in his hands.
"The thing I can say about Jhonkensy, no matter what — if he was struggling, not struggling, you name it — he steps up and gives you everything he has once he gets there, and he's not sped up," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "He's not afraid of the big moment. We saw that in his debut. We've seen it time and time again. No bigger swing of the bat — until that one in the 10th."
David Fry was stunned as the moment unfolded. But then he remembered who was the plate.
"It was amazement. It was so much excitement, but then it was just like, 'Oh, yeah, of course Jhonkensy hit a game-tying homer against a guy throwing 98 and throws a changeup and hits it for a homer — nobody does that," Fry said. "Vogter said, like coming in the game, it's like, 'Here you go, big boy, hit a two-run homer,' and he did. It's so cool."
The Cleveland Guardians' David Fry watches his two-run home run in the 10th inning to beat the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday in Cleveland.
David Fry might be the most clutch hitter in the 2024 MLB playoffs after walk-off home run in ALCS Game 3
The Guardians are still alive and well largely thanks to Lane Thomas and Fry. Thomas drilled the grand slam against the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS , and he also hit a crucial double in the ninth inning Thursday night that will largely go overlooked, but it extended the game just long enough for Noel to tee off. Fry hit the home run to win Game 4 against the Tigers and extend the series.
Advertisement
It was the biggest home run of Fry's life — until he stepped to the plate in the 10th inning against Clay Holmes , one of the best relievers in baseball.
Fry swung. He connected. Tom Hamilton made a perfect call as he always does .
Fry knew it was gone off the bat. The ball hadn't yet cleared the wall, but the game was over. Then he blacked out from there. It was a moment so steeped in pure adrenaline, craziness and excitement that it brought him back to the true fundamentals of baseball — just touch all the bases. There was no mental room for anything else for a few seconds.
"At that point I blacked out," Fry said when asked what was going through his head as the ball was in the air. "No clue. I remember being like halfway down the first base line looking back at the dugout and looking and saying, "All right, I just have to make sure I touch all four bases and get home and celebrate."
Cleveland Guardians' David Fry celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the 10th inning to beat the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday in Cleveland.
Guardians at their best when playing 'Guards ball' in 2024 postseason
Game 2 of the ALCS was perhaps the worst example of "Guards Ball" of Cleveland's entire 2024 season, regular or post. Game 3 was its best.
Advertisement
It's unclear why or exactly how the Guardians play their baseball when they're down and out, or when they've been knocked around first. But it's a trend that cannot be ignored. Time and time again, the Guardians have excelled after being pummeled. It's as if taking punch after punch only somehow makes the club stronger.
Matthew Boyd turns in great outing: Guardians should retain Matthew Boyd, their best starting pitcher in MLB playoffs | Ulrich
The Guardians have developed an identity and a style of baseball that has made them one of the toughest teams to play in the league.
"Bunts, bombs and chaos — that's what we talked about," Fry said. "It felt like tonight, we got back to that."
Advertisement
Things would be easier for the Guardians if they could simply play like this without having to be punched in the mouth first, but for the moment it's a formula that is dependable, at least.
"I couldn't be more proud of our guys," Vogt said. "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."
Boyd hasn't been in Cleveland long. But he knows the deal.
"That whole game was who we are as a ball club," Boyd said. "That's Guards baseball."
Advertisement
The Yankees have had 198 postseason games in which they've had a lead of at least two runs in the ninth inning or later in their storied history. Both losses have been to Cleveland (Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS and Game 3 of the 2024 ALCS).
New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton celebrates a home run with teammates during the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Thursday in Cleveland.
Emmanuel Clase 's slider could a concern after home run to Giancarlo Stanton in ALCS Game 3
Emmanuel Clase gave up five earned runs in the entire regular season. He's been tagged for six earned runs in the postseason already.
Clase's slider could be of particular concern for the Guardians. Kerry Carpenter drilled a three-run, go-ahead home run off a slider that was left over the plate. Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead home run in Game 3 on — you guessed it — a slider that was left over the plate.
Advertisement
Thomas, Manzardo, Gimenez: 3 unsung heroes from the Guardians' dramatic win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS
The slider is a pitch Clase went to less often in 2024 than in previous seasons, instead leaning into his "Mariano-like" cutter more and more. Aaron Judge 's two-run home run was off a cutter that was perfectly placed on the outside edge of the plate. He simply put a fantastic swing on it, and he's strong enough that he was able to send it over the right-field wall.
Stanton's homer was on a pitch that caught way too much of the plate, just like Carpenter's.
As for the reaction to Clase's nearly impossible inning in which the Guardians, in shock, watched Judge and then Stanton round the bases? The Guardians know Clase led them to the playoffs. It was time they finally picked him up for a change.
Advertisement
"We were obviously shook, but it was just like, 'You know what? It's time we give him a break,'" Fry said. "He carried our team all year long in the ninth inning, and it's our time to pick him up. I'm glad we did."
The swing of momentum could not have been more substantial. The Yankees' stars had just taken down the Guardians' Cy Young-contender closer. It was as if every Cleveland fan in the ballpark had been punched in the stomach at the same time.
All three home runs were by hitters who can mash right-handed pitching — Carpenter, Judge and Stanton represent three of the best. The pitch to Judge was exactly where it needed to be. But the slider has been off a few times, and Clase has looked more and more human.
But the fact the Guardians were somehow able to recover from such devastating haymakers might be the biggest takeaway of them all from Game 3.
Advertisement
It might have sunk the Guardians for good Thursday night. But then Noel grabbed a bat.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians MLB playoffs: David Fry, Jhonkensy Noel win ALCS Game 3
