CLEVELAND — With the Yankees down 3-1 in Game 3 of the ALCS and baseball’s best closer looking for a four-out save, Aaron Judge launched a two-run homer off the Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase in the eighth inning on Thursday.
Well, just barely.
“I thought it was too low,” Judge said of the shot, which just got over Progressive Field’s right field wall. “I thought I was gonna hit it off the wall.”
It didn’t, creating a long-awaited signature postseason moment for Judge.
While he had provided some insurance runs with his first homer of the 2024 playoffs in Game 2, he had previously not gone deep in October since the 2022 ALDS. Judge also got off to a 2-for-15 start this postseason, but such shortcomings became a distant memory when he tied the game on Thursday.
The importance of his blast then grew when Giancarlo Stanton also took Clase deep one batter later.
Clase only permitted two home runs and five earned runs during the regular season, so the Yankees celebrated their longballs outside of their dugout.
Then they lost, 7-5, after the Guardians hit two dramatic home runs of their own.
The first came from Jhonkensy Noel, who tagged Yankees closer Luke Weaver for two runs in the ninth. That tied things up at five.
Then David Fry walked it off with his own two-run bomb off Clay Holmes, who lost the closer’s role in early September.
Just like that, the Yankees went from being one win away from the World Series to departing the field in sorrow.
“You’re going to have games like this when you get into an epic battle, and sometimes you’re on the losing end,” said Aaron Boone, whose Yankees hold a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. “You dust yourself off and get ready for a big one tomorrow.”
While the Yankees are still in a good position, they spoiled a clutch display from the middle of their order.
Stanton, an established playoff performer, has often risen to the occasion this time of year. But Judge hasn’t been as heroic in his last few postseasons.
That was far from the case Thursday, but it didn’t matter in the end.
While the Yankees fell in painful fashion, Judge downplayed the outcome, stating, “A loss is a loss.”
“A lot of ups and downs, just like the regular season,” he added. “There’s always gonna be ups and downs throughout games like this.”
The Yankees also wasted a rare night in which Clase lacked electricity. His elite cutter failed him, as both home runs came on the pitch.
With Stanton calling the righty a “generational talent” and Judge deeming Clase “the best closer in the game,” Thursday was a missed opportunity for the Yankees.
However, Judge saw their success off the righty as a silver lining — one that could possibly payoff later in the ALCS.
“We’re gonna take what we learned today and hopefully use that down the stretch in this series,” Judge said.
