CLEVELAND — The Guardians showed the Yankees that they don’t have a glass jaw.
MLB’s best closer, Emmanuel Clase, imploded in the eighth inning, and the Guardians still rallied Thursday to save their season in Game 3 of the ALCS with a game-tying, two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning then a two-out, two-run, walk-off home run in the 10th inning of a 7-5 win against the Yankees.
“That’s exactly who we are,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We never quit. We get punched in the teeth pretty hard there in the eighth, and our guys stepped up huge for the guy [Clase] that carried us all year long.”
If you were thinking of the pesky Guardians as nothing more than a nuisance on the Yankees’ path to the World Series like a swarm of midges known to invade Progressive Field, think again.
The home runs by Jhonkensy Noel to tie the game and David Fry to win it — the answer to the Yankees’ back-to-back tying and go-ahead home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton off Clase — showed some real force.
“We got punched in the mouth with the best pitcher in baseball, Emmanuel Clase,” Fry said.
“You just hand him the ball, and we don’t even watch the game, I feel like we are chatting up because we know the game is over. So we were obviously shook, but it was just like, you know what, it’s time we give him a break.”
Now, instead of being on the brink of elimination Friday, the Guardians are dreaming big again.
“Cannot deny it’s a very exciting moment, but at the same time, it’s kind of like — I’m not trying to be stubborn or arrogant — try to downplay it,” Noel said. “The goal is to get to the World Series. When we get to that point, that’s when we’re going to be a little more celebratory mode.”
As the Yankees continued to run into inexplicable outs on the bases, the Guardians flashed some Gold Glove-caliber defense that further leveled the playing field.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Guardians rally for improbable comeback to sink Yankees in Game 3 crusher
- Yankees’ catching shakeup provided spark before burning out just as quickly
- Travis Kelce loses his mind over Guardians’ unbelievable walk-off win over Yankees
- Heroes, zeros from Yankees’ Game 3 loss: David Fry gives Guardians life
With the score tied in the top of the 10th, second baseman Andrés Giménez ranged far to his left to stab a ground ball, spun and threw a bouncer to first baseman Josh Naylor, who kept his foot on the bag to retire Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Just like that, the Yankees went from potentially having runners on first and second — or first and third — with one out to a lower percentage chance to score.
When they didn’t break the tie, Fry made sure there was no 11th inning.
“Andrés Giménez is the best infielder on the planet,” Vogt said. “He has been, and he will be. He makes plays that make us wow every single day.”
The ACLS was extended at least one more day because the Guardians proved they can take a punch.
