Cleveland Baseball Insider

Indians win ALDS Game 2 in walk-off fashion after erasing largest deficit in franchise Postseason history; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- Friday night's ALDS Game 2 win over the New York Yankees will likely be remembered by Cleveland Indians faithful for decades to come. The game
Ashley Bastock|
Indians win ALDS Game 2 in walk-off fashion after erasing largest deficit in franchise Postseason history; three takeaways
Indians win ALDS Game 2 in walk-off fashion after erasing largest deficit in franchise Postseason history; three takeaways

CLEVELAND-- Friday night's ALDS Game 2 win over the New York Yankees will likely be remembered by Cleveland Indians faithful for decades to come.

The game played out like a Shakespearean drama, and ended with the Indians overcoming the largest deficit in franchise Postseason history with a walk-off hit.

The Tribe will now travel to New York for Game 3 on Sunday. For now, here are our three takeaways from the epic finish.

1. Wild Yanimal

The Cleveland Indians overcame the largest Postseason deficit in franchise history on Friday night, and Yan Gomes was the one who finished the job.

On a 3-2 pitch, Gomes hit an 88 mph slider down the left field line to plate Austin Jackson and get the walk-off win. It was Gomes' fourth walk-off plate appearance, and his second this season (the first came on Aug. 8 against the Colorado Rockies.)

"I was just trying any way I could just to get Jackson over," Gomes said. "[Indians hitting coach Mike Sarbaugh] came up to me and told me, 'Hey, any way you can. Doesn't have to be a bunt. Whatever it is, just try to get him over.' I tried to bunt one of the other pitches, you saw me pull it back. I was like, there's no chance I'm going to be able to bunt this guy right now.

"So I was just trying to put the bat on the ball and try to get him over any way I could. The pitches that were there, I felt like I was kind of on it, so I was able to see it, and it just happened to go my way today."

It was the eighth time in club history that the team won on a walk-off. The last time was in the 2007 ALDS, also against the Yankees.

There's no doubt that this win though was incredibly improbable. The team was down 8-3, and did not start to make a comeback until the sixth inning (more on that in a minute), and didn't tie the game until the bottom of the eighth (more on that to come as well).

But what this game came down to is the fact that the Indians can get production from seemingly anywhere at anytime.

"You know, we don't just believe in one or two guys," manager Terry Francona said. "We believe in our entire team, and it took an entire team to win that game."

2. Mr. Smile's grand slam and Bruce's bomb

Against all the odds, Francisco Lindor managed to breathe some life into Progressive Field with one swing in the sixth inning.

Bases were loaded after Carlos Santana drew a walk, Gomes recorded a double and Lonnie Chisenhall was hit by a pitch.

At the top of the order and with two outs, Lindor stepped to the plate and clanged the 88 mph cutter off the right field foul pole.

The moonshot pulled Cleveland to within one-run, 8-7, and gave the entire stadium CPR in the process. Lindor ended the game with four RBIs, tying the record for second-most in franchise Postseason history.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," Lindor said after the win. "As soon as I hit it, I knew it had a chance of going out. Then after a couple of steps, I was like, no, don't go foul, please. Just stay fair. I started blowing on it a little bit. As soon as it went out, it was just a lot of emotions because, at the end of the day, all I want to do is just give my team a chance to win.

"And [Jay] Bruce has been doing that. And the at-bat that Chisenhall had right before me, that was huge. A lot of people are going to be talking about the home run, but they forgot about Chisenhall's at bat. That was a game-changing moment right there."

Two innings later, Bruce tied the game 8-8 on a solo home run that landed in the bleachers. The bomb came on the 3-1 pitch, a 92 mph cutter to the outside of the zone.

Bruce became just the fourth Indians player to homer in consecutive Postseason games, joining Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Juan Gonzalez. Bruce, however, is the only person on that list to have done so in his first two playoff games as a Cleveland Indian.

3. Clobbered Kluber

The win seems even more unlikely when you think about what the Yankees did to Indians' ace Corey Kluber, who had arguably his roughest start of the 2017 season. He lasted just two and two-thirds innings, and gave up seven hits, six earned runs, two homers and one walk. He also notched four strikeouts. He threw 76 total pitches, 38 of which came in the first inning.

It was Kluber's shortest start of his Postseason career (his shortest playoff start prior to tonight came in Game 7 of last year's World Series when he went four innings). Through his 163 career regular season starts, Kluber has gone for less than three innings just three times.

The six runs he gave up were equal to the number of runs he allowed in his last seven starts combined. Per T.J. Zuppe, it's also just the second time he's allowed four or more runs since coming off the disabled list on June 1.

After Game 1, the Yankees' Chase Headley said that their goal in going against Kluber was to make him work for every out that he got. They managed to do that and then some.

But, the Indians' bullpen managed to get the game back under control following a two-run homer that Mike Clevinger gave up.

"Brian Shaw came in and quieted it down, gave us a chance," Francona said. "Cody [Allen] went two really tough, long innings. And Josh Tomlin came in -- I mean, he's -- I don't know how else to say it. He's got major league balls. That's just the best way I can say it."

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Ashley Bastock
ASHLEY BASTOCK

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