The New York Yankees are one win away from reaching the World Series for the first time in 15 years after holding on against the Cleveland Guardians in another wild ALCS game on Friday night. The Yankees plated two runs in the ninth inning against All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase to secure an 8-6 victory in Game 4. The Yankees coughed up a four-run lead before some clutch hitting in the ninth, and the win gives New York a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
The Yankees scored twice against Clase, the closer who has not been anywhere close to his dominant self in October. Clase allowed two runs on three hits — including an RBI single from Gleyber Torres — as his postseason ERA ballooned to 10.29. Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, his fourth of the playoffs, to make it 6-2 Yankees.
But Cleveland made some late-inning noise for the second night in a row. The Guardians scored three runs in the seventh inning, getting RBI doubles from José Ramírez and Josh Naylor. Then they tied the game in the eighth inning on an infield single from David Fry that couldn’t be handled by reliever Mark Leiter Jr.
The Yankees will try to win their first pennant since 2009 in Saturday night’s Game 5.
CBS Sports will have more on Game 5 soon.
