Looking Back, Gio's Glove Saved the Yankees and Stopped the Indians and a Potential Game 3

Wednesday night it was the glove of a former Indian that saved the day for the Yankees, stopping a couple late potential Indians runs and allowing New York to come up down one instead of three. Had the ball gotten through the infield, things could have been drastically different.

The Cleveland Indians lost a disappointing Game Two against the New York Yankees by a score of 10-9 Wednesday evening. Many would cite the blown save by closer Brand Hand as the final straw to the loss. 

The Tribe was up 9-8 going into the 9th inning and Hand gave up two runs against that vaunted Yankees lineup.

With that aforementioned score in the bottom of the 8th, the Indians had the bases loaded and Carlos Santana at the plate with one out and a chance to blow it wide open. 

The first-baseman absolutely smoked a grounder to third baseman Giovanny Urshela. It got stopped on a full-extension dive towards second base and a double play was subsequently turned.

The eighth inning ended and instead of the Indians having at least an 11-8 cushion heading to the ninth, it remained a one-run game because of that incredible play by the man that already hit a grand slam earlier in the night.

Now, as the closer, Hand should be expected to give up zero runs in any appearance no matter the situation. Even so, one has to think that a three-run lead makes securing a victory that much easier for the closer regardless of who it is.

Urshela, a former member of the Indians organization, really stuck it to the Cleveland Front Office on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. All that really had to be done was the right-hander take the mound himself and strike out a few Indians hitters.

Frankly, in this back-and-forth affair, there were plenty of excellent moments to choose from that made a huge difference in this game.

However, most third basemen do not make that stop and turn the double play, too. It totally changes the 9th for the Yankees lineup and the task at…hand.

During the regular season, Hand was 16-for-16 in save opportunities.

However, it was never in a dominant fashion and that’s why fans were nervous about the chances of the left-hander completing the one-run save to force a Game Three.

Well, look at what happened.

Hand gave up two runs, the Yankees took the lead once again, and the Indians ended up losing the series in only two games after being unable to score in the back half of the inning. 

Had that ball off Santana’s bat gotten past Urshela, the team could be in the process of preparing for a do-or-die Game Three instead of deciding vacation plans.