Yankees Stun Guardians In Walkoff Win
Historically speaking, most Guardians/Yankees games are pretty high scoring.
But with both pitching staffs entering the weekend with the best starting rotation ERA in the American League through the first couple weeks of the season, the first two games in the series have been much different. The margin for error felt so thin that only a run or two could prove to be the difference. It's felt a lot like playoff baseball.
Saturday's game was a good old fashioned pitchers duel between Cal Quantrill and Nestor Cortes before a couple of late home runs stole the show and set the table for a big finish.
WATCH: Yankees Fans Throw Water Bottles, Beer Cans At Guardians Players After Walk-off Win
Isiah Kiner-Falefa was down to his final strike with the Yankees down 4-3, but he doubled to the wall in left field to tie the game. Then Gleyber Torres delivered a pinch-hit walk-off double to right-center to steal the game away from Cleveland.
It was a 2-2 tie after a great pitchers duel for awhile before the tensions started to rise.
Josh Donaldson took Quantrill deep in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and with the Guardians offense on life support, things weren't looking promising. They had only managed a couple of hits in the game through that point.
Then in the eighth, Austin Hedges connected on easily his most impactful hit of the year by launching a 2-run dinger into the left field seats. It turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead and gave the bullpen a chance to close the door and even the series. Hedges is just 4-for-32 on the year with 11 strikeouts, but he gets every day playing time because of his defensive prowess behind home plate.
It took a while for the Guardians' bats to get going.
Cortes didn't give up a base hit until Josh Naylor hit a 2-run homer in the top of the fifth inning. That was the only hit he allowed before he was taken out with one out in the top of the seventh inning. Cortes backed up his 12-strikeouts-in-5-innings effort against Baltimore with an 8K, 6.1 performance today.
Quantrill was activated off the CoVID/IL before the game, which sent Tanner Tully back to Triple-A Columbus. Quantrill looked pretty sharp and certainly gave the Guardians a chance to win.
Speaking of Josh Naylor, he's been red hot since rejoining the Guardians last week. Naylor is hitting .476 on the year through his first 21 at bats. He's also posted a fantastic 1.214 OPS. He's had five straight multi-hit games since returning.
The rubber-match in the series is set for Sunday afternoon. Aaron Civale and Gerrit Cole are scheduled to square off on the hill. Cole has had a surprisingly bad start to the year with a 6.35 ERA through three starts.
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