B2B HRs from Judge, Stanton are historic, but thrill short-lived for Yanks

CLEVELAND -- Aaron Judge reached down to sprinkle a handful of dirt outside the batter’s box, taking a moment during a delicious power vs. power showdown with Emmanuel Clase, the league’s most dominant closer. They’d both enjoyed terrific regular seasons, then some struggles in the postseason. Only one could win this battle.

Down to his final strike, Judge said his thought process was to “get on base with a little single to right.” He did much more, barreling a low liner that cleared the wall for a game-tying, two-run homer, stunning the sellout crowd while spilling his jubilant teammates onto the playing field.

The Bombers would celebrate again seven pitches later, when Giancarlo Stanton launched a go-ahead homer -- a thrilling comeback wasted in the Yankees’ 7-5, 10-inning loss to the Guardians in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

“This team does such a good job of focusing on this game, the game you’ve got tonight,” Judge said. “That’s all you’ve got. The emotions you saw was the excitement of a hard-fought game, being able to tie it up and then take the lead there.”

The back-to-back blasts were spoiled by Cleveland’s comeback, with Jhonkensy Noel cracking a game-tying homer off Luke Weaver in the ninth inning and David Fry launching a walk-off blast facing Clay Holmes in the 10th.

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Having Judge and Stanton homer in the same game is typically a reliable recipe for success for the Yankees. Game 3 marked just the fifth time in 50 such occurrences that the club did not win with their two big sluggers going deep, three of which have come this season: also April 14 vs. Cleveland and Aug. 24 vs. Colorado.

Yet the Judge and Stanton blasts were notable in their own right; incredibly, the Yankees became the first team in postseason history to be trailing by multiple runs in the eighth inning or later, then hit back-to-back homers to take the lead, according to OPTAStats.

“Those were big-time at-bats,” said manager Aaron Boone.

Judge roared and pumped his fist as he rounded the bases for his second homer in as many games, the first game-tying postseason homer in the eighth inning or later by a Yankee since DJ LeMahieu in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS at Houston.

The homer had an 18-degree launch angle, lowest of any of Judge’s 60 homers this year (regular season and playoffs).

“It was incredible,” Stanton said. “It wasn’t a bad pitch, low and away on the black. [Judge] does what he does.”

It was Judge’s 15th career postseason homer, tying Babe Ruth for fourth-most in Yankees history behind Bernie Williams (22), Derek Jeter (20) and Mickey Mantle (18). Each of Judge’s last four playoff homers have come against Cleveland.

“When you’ve got like [Clase] throwing 102 miles an hour, cutting with good feel for his slider, you don’t try to do too much,” Judge said. “You just try to put the ball in play and then see what happens.”

Television cameras caught Clase shaking his head in disbelief; he’d given up only five earned runs all season in 270 batters faced, including two homers. Yet that October surprise wasn’t without precedent, as Clase surrendered a stunning homer to the Tigers’ Kerry Carpenter in Game 2 of the AL Division Series.

“I think there's one person that could hit that pitch off Emmanuel Clase out of the yard, and he did,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “As a baseball fan, it was really cool. As the opposing manager, it was not.”

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Judge said that his at-bat might have influenced how Clase attacked Stanton.

“Clase likes to throw in usually with that cutter,” Judge said. “I was trying to look in there a little bit but then he left one out over the plate away. In that Stanton at-bat, he got beat away so he was trying to pound back in a little bit and threw a couple off the plate. Clase made a couple of adjustments there, but Big G was able to fight off some tough pitches and win that at-bat.”

Moved to the cleanup spot for the first time in this postseason, Stanton connected with a 1-2 slider, driving a blast that carried well past a leaping attempt from center fielder Lane Thomas.

“He was riding cutters and sliders in,” Stanton said. “I was just [looking to] get one out over the plate. I missed a couple out over the plate. Luckily, I was able to get to the third one.”

Stanton’s homer was his 14th in the postseason, which ranks sixth in Yankees history. It was also his fourth go-ahead homer in the playoffs (second this year), and his third homer of this postseason, which leads all AL players.

For that one, Judge joined his thrilled teammates as they paraded onto the grass. Alas, for the Yankees, it would be their last such party of the night.

“Back and forth, this is the crazy game we play,” Stanton said. “It’s never over until the last out.”