Oct 14, 2022 4 min read

Oscar Gonzalez singled in the go-ahead run with Cleveland’s second straight bloop hit in the 10th inning, and the Guardians overcame a two-run deficit to beat the New York Yankees, 4-2, Friday and even their best-of-five AL Division Series at one game apiece.

José Ramírez led off the 10th against Jameson Taillon with an opposite-field popup that dropped 200 feet from home plate, just in front of left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera for a double. Ramírez hustled all the way and slid into third headfirst when third baseman Josh Donaldson threw the ball past second for an error.

Gonzalez, whose 15th-inning homer Saturday completed a first-round sweep of Tampa Bay in the wild-card round, followed with a 59 mph, 164-foot opposite-field flare into short right off Taillon, who made his first big league relief appearance after 143 starts.

Josh Naylor added an RBI double that bounced on a hop off the wall in right-center.

“We just try find a way on base,” Naylor said. “If it’s a bloop hit, it’s a bloop hit. If it’s a hard-hit single, double, whatever the case it, we just try to hustle. try to make things happen on the field, try to put pressure on the defense.”

Winner Emmanuel Clase pitched 2 1/3 innings, his most in the major leagues, and combined with Trevor Stephan and Karinchak for 4 1/3 innings of one-hit relief as Cleveland stopped a six-game postseason losing streak to the Yankees.

Clase retired Kyle Higashioka on a lineout to Ramírez for the final out of the eighth after James Karinchak walked the bases loaded. Clase threw 33 pitches, 10 more than his season high.

“It was preparing mentally and remembering when I was a starter in the minor leagues and try to do the same thing,” Clase said through a translator.

Guardians relievers have thrown 17 2/3 scoreless innings this season.

The series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday night. There is no travel day because a rainout Thursday had pushed Game 2 to Friday.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Cleveland tied the score against All-Star Nestor Cortes when Andrés Giménez had an RBI single in the fourth and Amed Rosario homered in the fifth.

Aaron Judge went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts and dropped to 0 for 8 with seven strikeouts and a walk in the series. Fresh off setting the AL home run record with 62, he was booed by some fans in the sellout crowd of 47,355 after whiffing against Stephan in the seventh.

Philadelphia 9, Atlanta 1: Rhys Hoskins burst out of his postseason malaise with a three-run homer and spiked his bat in triumph and Bryce Harper hit a two-run shot that sent Philadelphia Phillies fever soaring and helped carry them to a 9-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the NL Division Series.

Harper added an RBI double as Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five matchup against the reigning World Series champs. The Phillies can advance to the NL Championship Series with a Game 4 win at home on Saturday.

The Phillies and a sellout crowd of 45,538 fans waited 11 mostly miserable years – 4,025 days, to be exact – to host a playoff game again at Citizens Bank Park.

Phillies fans should save the rally towels – the Phillies played like a team that wants to keep Red October alive

The bats erupted in a six-run third inning that will forever be stamped on a Philly sports highlight reel.

Bryson Stott got the rally going with an RBI double off Braves rookie Spencer Strider. Kyle Schwarber drew an intentional walk to set the stage for Hoskins.

Hoskins, mired in a 1-for-19 postseason slump, crushed a 94 mph fastball into the left field seats for a 4-0 lead.

Hoskins raised his arms in celebration, slammed his bat into the grass and he skipped his way to first base.

The exit velocity? It took about 2 seconds for Harper to bounce out of the dugout and toss his helmet in the air. Hoskins leapt into a violent elbow forearm exchange – think, Bash Brothers – with Stott as he crossed the plate.

“I don’t know if my feet touched the ground,” Hoskins said.

Strider, who pitched the first time in almost a month because of a strained left oblique, gave up one more single before he was lifted for Dylan Lee.