The New York Yankees clinched a berth in the American League Championship Series on Thursday night, while the Detroit Tigers failed to capitalize on their chance to do the same.
The Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals, 3-1, and captured the best-of-five division series by the same margin. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians saved their season by beating the Tigers, 5-4. That series is now tied at two games apiece with the decisive fifth contest slated for Saturday.
Here are some takeaways from Thursday’s action.
PINCH-HITTING HERO
The Guardians-Tigers’ Game 4 matchup featured plenty of drama. There were lead changes, big strikeouts and more, but David Fry’s contributions stood above all.
Fry entered the game as a pinch-hitter with one runner on base and two outs in the seventh inning. The Guardians were down, 3-2, and Detroit right-hander Beau Brieske quickly went ahead in the count with two strikes on Fry. The designated hitter then fouled off a 96.9-m.p.h. four seamer down in the zone before working the count to 2-2. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Fry launched a 97.5-m.p.h. fastball over the left-field fence.
It was a two-run homer that not only gave the Guardians the lead, but also saved their season.
And Fry wasn’t done there, perfectly executing a squeeze bunt in the ninth inning that drove in an insurance run that would stand up as the game-winner.
The Guardians will have to go through Tigers ace left-hander Tarik Skubal in Game 5, but if they end up winning this series, Fry will have to be considered a hero in Cleveland for years to come.
REDEMPTION FOR CLASE
Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase put together a special regular season that saw him compile 47 saves to go with a miniscule 0.61 ERA. However, in Game 2 of the division series, the Tigers showed that the right-hander wasn’t Teflon when Kerry Carpenter launched a game-changing three-run homer off Clase.
That long ball was a shocker and Clase had three days to sit with it. He returned to the mound on Thursday when he was called upon for a five-out save. That’s significant considering the closer is typically a one-inning reliever (only once this season did he pitch more than one frame).
Clase escaped a jam when he entered the game in the eighth, and, while he did allow one run in the ninth, he shut the door by overpowering Matt Vierling with a convincing strikeout to end the game and secure redemption for himself.
COLE AND THE RIGHT RECIPE
Meanwhile, in the other division series matchup, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole turned in an excellent performance to shut down the Royals and send his club to the next round.
Cole, making the 19th post-season start of his career, allowed just one run on six hits over seven innings. He issued no walks and struck out four on 87 pitches.
The theme of redemption applies to Cole, too, given his unimpressive Game 1 performance in which he was hit hard by the Royals.
Yankees right-hander Clay Holmes, who was removed from the closer’s role in September, took over from Cole and pitched a clean eighth inning, while Luke Weaver struck out two in the ninth to earn his third save of the series.
The sequence of pitchers worked out perfectly for Yankees manager Aaron Boone and if the team is to get where they want to go this October, they’ll need that recipe to work a few more times.
The Yankees bullpen was considered by some to be a weak spot entering the post-season, however, the collective has yet to allow an earned run in its four games.
