Big inning… Big moment!

I hope you have a good weekend. It's been a great week of postseason play, and there are still more exciting moments to come. The Yankees are one win away from returning to the World Series for the first time since 2009. The Dodgers are also one win away from the Fall Classic. So, there's a good chance that next week we'll get to enjoy the long-awaited Yankees-Dodgers World Series. But the Guardians and Mets are still alive. And this is baseball! So you never know what can happen tomorrow.

Let's get to the Big moment and the Big inning on Friday!

Yankees 8, Guardians 6 (Yankees lead ALCS 3-1)

After the Yankees started with a 2-0 lead in the ALCS, the Guardians have responded at home. The momentum from the home fans at Progressive Field has been incredible. Friday's Game 4 was another great baseball game. The Guardians survived a home run barrage from Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton at home.

Let’s take a minute to focus on Stanton’s offensive contribution, as John Sterling’s home run call, “Stanton comes through with a STANTONIAN home run! GIANCARLO! Non si puo STOPARLO!”, has become a regular occurrence this postseason. Well, isn’t that exactly what we all expected from Stanton’s power? Stanton has had the second-highest slugging percentage (.767) this postseason—among hitters with at least 30 plate appearances—behind Fernando Tatis Jr. (he averaged, 1.000! Yeah, what? Seriously! Tatis Jr. hit three doubles and four homers in seven games, though that power was limited by Dodgers pitchers in the final two NLDS games).

Stanton hadn’t recorded a postseason series with multiple homers and at least five RBIs since — remember? Yes, since 2022, when he hit two homers and drove in six runs in 19 plate appearances in the ALDS against the Cleveland Guardians. But in that five-game series the Yankees won, Stanton’s only two hits were his two homers. He struck out six times and hit just .125.

That’s the big difference from the successful postseason Stanton is having this year with the Yankees: He has, surprisingly, more walks than strikeouts. Stanton has struck out just four times and has five walks in 35 plate appearances. The Guardians have been able to strike him out just twice in 17 plate appearances, and that’s been a big problem: All three of Stanton’s hits have been homers, and he has five RBIs.

On Friday night, Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off the top of the sixth inning with a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second with no outs against reliever Cade Smith. Then, manager Stephen Vogt was supposed to call an intentional walk for Giancarlo Stanton. I say supposed not because it seems reasonable, but because it's what managers have mostly been doing in these playoffs.

The intentional walk to Stanton was not an option for Vogt. And I at least liked it, just to see Smith face off against Stanton. The Yankees were up 3-2 and it seemed like a great moment. But I think if Vogt had called an intentional walk, that would have been fine with me, too. In the end, it was all about facing Stanton, right? Pitching against Anthony Rizzo with the bases loaded had the potential advantage of looking for a ground ball into a double play.

Obviously, Vogt preferred to prevent another Yankees runner from getting on base. Smith got ahead in the 0-2 count with a pair of high 94 mph fastballs. He then threw another fastball well inside the outside corner, and came back with another 94 mph fastball in the upper third of the strike zone. Stanton gobbled up that fastball and hit a 404-foot home run to left center at Progressive Field. It was a classic “STANTONIAN home run!”, a 106 mph blast that lasted less than six seconds in the air.

Yankees 6, Guardians 2, in the top of the sixth, it seemed like we were going to see the end. But the Guardians rallied. The Yankees bullpen collapsed. Jose Ramirez came on with a double that cut the deficit, 6-3. The late Josh Naylor came on with a double that drove in two more in the seventh. And, in the bottom of the eighth, the Guardians tied it 6-6 with another hit by David Fry—although this time it was a 40 mph grounder that was impossible to convert into an out by pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. and first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

After eight innings, we had seen most of the exciting and surprising things about the Guardians, but one of the most important impulses was missing. Yes, the roar of closer Emmanuel Clase. His typical final celebration in the games, after getting the three outs to give the Guardians a victory. With the game tied, Clase took the mound at Progressive Field to relieve Hunter Gaddis, who pitched the top of the eighth with three strikeouts, two of them against Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Before we get to the next inevitable Clase meltdown, I want you to look at this thing that caught my eye.

It's all about Clase's strikeouts. During the regular season, Clase had 17 of his 74 games in relief with at least two strikeouts in an inning. Only three times did he get three strikeouts to close out the ninth inning. The last time was on August 25 during the Guardians' 4-2 win against the Texas Rangers. Clase has had a pair of relief outings with at least two strikeouts this postseason, but he hasn't managed to strike out more than one batter in any inning.

So it's obvious that Clase hasn't been able to strike out two batters in a row. I wrote about his strikeout ability yesterday. Undoubtedly the most consistent reliever of the past three seasons, Clase has not excelled as a great strikeout hitter. Either way, the important thing for a closer is to keep the score tied or the lead. The problem here, as I wrote in my column yesterday, is that a closer needs to strike out in certain game situations.

Clase hasn't been able to strike out, but he hasn't been able to keep the Yankees from getting on base either. On Clase's second pitch, Anthony Rizzo hit a 98 mph cutter up the middle and hit a ground single to left. It was a 68 mph ground ball, but it found the hole between the third baseman and the shortstop. After a strike, Clase threw another 98 mph cutter up the middle: Anthony Volpe returned it at 94 mph with a single to center. Pinch runner Jon Berti reached third. And, after Clase's second pitch to Austin Wells, Volpe stole second.

The Yankees' threat was latent.

Then Clase struck out Austin Wells with a 100 mph cutter. So there was a huge gasp and a whoop from the crowd at Progressive Field. That's what the Guardians needed, the power of Clase's cutter to get them out of a jam. But Clase couldn't avoid contact. The first pitch against Alex Verdugo was a 100 mph cutter in the upper third of the strike zone. It looked like a big pitch, one that almost no hitter was supposed to hit. But Verdugo took the pitch and hit a 44 mph grounder to the right of Clase.

Shortstop Brayan Rocchio was playing near the center of the infield. And when he reached the grounder, the only chance he had was to get Verdugo out at first. But Rocchio lost the ball from his glove and the chance of an out vanished. The Yankees took over 7-6.

Clase still had a chance to stop the Yankees' offense, but Gleyber Torres hit another 99 mph cutter in the middle of the zone and hit an RBI single to center field. Yankees 8, Guardians 6. The top of the ninth inning proved the Big Moment for the Yankees, and Luke Weaver again got the three outs to close the game.