'Gritty, tough' attack puts Yanks on doorstep of World Series

CLEVELAND – The exuberant celebration spilled from the first-base dugout as Giancarlo Stanton silenced the crowd with a sixth-inning trip around the bases, a three-run blast that provided breathing room for what the Yankees hoped would be a low-stress tour through their taxed bullpen.

They should have known nothing comes that easily in the postseason.

A wild back-and-forth battle was ultimately decided by Alex Verdugo’s run-scoring dribbler as the Yankees dinged elite closer Emmanuel Clase for the second time in as many nights, arriving at the doorstep of the World Series with an 8-6 victory over the Guardians in Friday’s Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

“It feels like nothing until we get it done,” Stanton said. “As far as I’m concerned, we haven’t done nothing. We’ll enjoy this for now, but we’ve got to get it done tomorrow and on to the next.”

Jon Berti scored the go-ahead run in the ninth on an error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio, and Gleyber Torres added an RBI single. Tommy Kahnle notched his second career postseason save as the Yankees wiped clean any lingering effects of a crushing Game 3 defeat, exhibiting an ability to rebound that has become their in-house hallmark.

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“I’m not surprised with these guys,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously last night was a really tough loss. Whatever happened today – win, lose or draw – there’s no doubt in my mind we’d come out ready to roll and ready to turn the page.”

Juan Soto hit a two-run homer and Austin Wells also went deep for the Yankees, the American League’s top team with 94 wins during the regular season. Their next victory can secure the 41st pennant in franchise history, and their first since 2009.

“This team is focused on what we’ve got to accomplish and what we’ve got to do,” Aaron Judge said. “We’ve seen it all year, when we have a couple of tough games or a tough series. This team always bounces back and answers back the right way. This was definitely a big win.”

In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams leading 3-1 have gone on to win on 79 of 93 occasions (84.9%), including 37 of 45 times in the LCS.

Judge called Stanton’s sixth-inning blast off Cade Smith “a thing of beauty,” marking the slugger’s 15th career postseason homer (in 35 games). It gave the Bombers a four-run advantage going to the seventh, a welcome cushion, but no knockout blow.

“No lead is safe,” Stanton said. “It’s a great team over there, but it’s just important to keep pushing. We need every single person on our team to contribute in some way. We’re going to need everybody.”

That was an ongoing theme in what Boone described as “an excellent game – not a perfect game, but a gritty, tough, winning game.” Luis Gil’s postseason debut lasted four innings and Tim Hill contributed a scoreless frame, working for the fourth time in five days.

Boone had few fresh options, leading him to swap Jake Cousins to seek outs from Clay Holmes, who appeared for the fourth time in five days after surrendering David Fry’s deciding Game 3 homer.

“We had a long way to go to the finish line, and frankly, I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to get there,” Boone said.

José Ramírez stroked a run-scoring double and Josh Naylor clipped a two-run double off Holmes, the rafters of Progressive Field quivering with Cleveland suddenly down by only a run. The Yankees called upon Mark Leiter Jr., who was added to the roster earlier in the day as an injury replacement.

Leiter escaped without damage in the seventh, though Jhonkensy Noel (the ninth-inning hero of Game 3) provided a scare with a deep flyout before Leiter recorded an inning-ending strikeout of Andrés Giménez.

Cleveland tied the game in the eighth, as Bo Naylor doubled, then scored on Fry’s soft tapper that Leiter fumbled and tossed errantly through Anthony Rizzo’s legs at first base -- the latest example of defense and baserunning that has hardly been crisp in this postseason.

Ideal? No. Yet, thus far, it has not kept the Yanks from winning.

“Every moment has an energy to it,” Leiter said. “The cool thing about this group and getting to watch it from the dugout is, it’s just next opportunity, next at-bat, next pitcher. Everybody really plays for each other.”

The tie game suggested a late advantage for Cleveland, but Stanton said the Yanks had confidence that they could get to Clase again to author a more palatable conclusion.

“Not being scared, not being intimidated, just going in there with the right proper plan,” Stanton said. “It’s going to be a tough at-bat, we know that, but this game is tough and we need runs.”

Kahnle noted that the Yankees have had “plenty of crazy games with Cleveland in the postseason,” adding, “It seems that it happens every time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another one tomorrow.”

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With that in mind, their postgame celebration featured a hearty acknowledgment of contributors like Leiter, then the usual Spotify playlist of hip hop and funk that accompanied each previous win.

Even with the biggest game of the year on deck, they opted to treat this night like any other, a cue they took from their captain.

“We’ve been in this moment before,” Judge said. “We just treat it like we have these past couple of games, just focus on what we’ve got to do tomorrow and go from there. I think the best thing to do in these situations is keep it simple.”