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Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase struggling to find top form in ALCS vs. Yankees
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- Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase struggling to find top form in ALCS vs. Yankees
CLEVELAND — The New York Yankees keep tugging on Superman's cape, and they keep getting away with it.
Perhaps it's because they no longer fear him.
For six months, Emmanuel Clase was nearly invincible. He was dominant. He was as electrifying as the newly inked lightning bolt tattoo on his neck.
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Six months. Sixty-six appearances. Forty-seven saves. Five earned runs allowed. A minuscule 0.61 ERA. And a truckload of 100 mph cutters.
Throughout the regular season, Emmanuel Clase was the absolute, unquestioned last pitcher any opposing lineup wanted to see jog to the mound from the bullpen. As much as any situation in recent memory in baseball, Clase entering a game meant that it was all over.
Velocity. Electricity. Dominance.
The aura seems to be gone in October.
Emmanuel Clase roughed up by New York Yankees in ALCS
Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase reacts in the ninth inning against the Yankees during Game 4 of the ALCS on Friday in Cleveland.
Kerry Carpenter of the Detroit Tigers obliterated a Clase slider for a game-winning, three-run home run in Game 2 of the ALDS.
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The Yankees have now knocked Clase around in Game 3 and Game 4 of the ALCS. Twice Clase entered with the lead or with it tied, and twice the Yankees jumped all over him.
The Guardians were able to pull off a miracle victory in Thursday's Game 3 . They were almost able to do it in back-to-back games, but fell short in another thrilling installment of the series, losing 8-6 in Game 4. Now, they are on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the series.
This postseason has been Clase's Kryptonite. He has an ERA of 10.29. The Yankees know they can get to him.
"I think there's some confidence there," said Yankees manager Aaron Boone about facing Clase. "We've had a little success over the years off him. I mean, not like massive, but we've gotten to him a couple times.
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"Obviously he's as good as it gets, but I think when you have some success against him, and you know he's throwing a lot like a lot of their guys have thrown in the postseason, I think there's probably a little bit of confidence we can do this against one of the game's greats."
In Game 3 of the ALCS, Aaron Judge hit a perfectly placed cutter for a two-run home run that tied the score in the eighth. Giancarlo Stanton then crushed a misplaced slider — similar to the pitch Carpenter hit out of the ballpark — to give the Yankees the lead.
In Game 4, the Yankees strung together three singles to go with a walk. Just as the Guardians had come back to tie it, the Yankees sent Clase to an early exit again.
"Today I felt like the ball was just leaking back over the middle," said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt . "Credit to them — they've had a great approach for him the last two days."
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After Game 3, Clase quickly left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters. But he did stick around after the Game 4 loss.
"I wasn't feeling good about the results, and I just wanted to get a little space to think and go over the videos and see what happened," Clase said through a team translator.
The slider has been a particular concern. It's a pitch Clase had thrown less in 2024 than in previous years, instead leaning even more into his "Mariano-like" cutter .
But in Game 4, it was also the cutter, which he threw on 17 of his 20 pitches. All three singles came on cutters.
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Clase said after Game 4 that he's never faced adversity quite like this on the mound.
"I haven't been able to execute my pitches, and credit to them because they've been able to execute their [approach]," Clase said. "It's a combination of both. I've been missing some spots, but also credit to what they've been doing."
Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase reacts after allowing a home run in the eighth inning against the Yankees during Game 3 of the ALCS on Thursday in Cleveland.
Guardians bullpen, Emmanuel Clase struggling in postseason
Clase has appeared in six games this postseason. He, Cade Smith , Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin have been leaned on heavily. Clase threw a few cutters in the 96-97 mph range Friday night, though he also was able to hit 99.8 mph or faster seven times.
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But the extra toll can be a factor.
"Of course that's real," said catcher Austin Hedges , speaking about pitchers in October generally and not just Clase. "It's middle-end of October. Everyone's been training since the offseason to prepare for a six-month season. As much as your goal is to win the World Series, there's only a handful of teams that play this long, and it's exhausting.
"These guys are logging 60 to 80 innings in the regular season, then we're talking about pitching every single day in the playoffs. That's really, really difficult, but there's only going to be one team that looks up and says we responded the right way, and we plan on winning [Saturday] and being that team."
It isn't quite velocity. It's execution. For the first time in a very long time, Clase entering the game now might come with a sense of Cleveland fans holding their breath.
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"He's still the best pitcher in the world in my opinion, and it's baseball, and that's a really good team over there with a lot of really good hitters, and they're allowed to get hits," Hedges said. "They drive nice cars, too, so it happens, but once again, we haven't lost a series [yet]."
But Clase might have lost a bit of his fear factor when on the mound, at least as far as the Yankees are concerned.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians in ALCS: Emmanuel Clase hit hard by Yankees
