Rain pushes ALDS Game 5 to Tuesday afternoon

Game 3 was a classic, and a microcosm of this series. A pair of two-run blasts by Yankees outfielders – one by right fielder Aaron Judge in the top of the third, and one by rookie left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera two innings later – seemed to take the excitement and energy out of what was at times a raucous sell-out crowd at Progressive Field Saturday night. But as Cabrera celebrated, the Guardians seemed to take exception, and it turns out he may have celebrated a little too hard, and a little too early.

The Guardians played to all of their strengths Saturday – staying in the game early, getting into a bullpen game, not making mistakes on defense, keeping pressure on the other team’s pitcher and defense and playing hard from the first pitch until the last. Despite those home runs, and another by center fielder Harrison Bader, the Guardians managed to keep the game close. They strung together three hits and scored a single run in each of the first two innings and again in the sixth. But despite out-hitting the Yankees and having runners on all evening, they went to the ninth down 5-3 and facing a lefty, against whom they have struggled all season.

When Yankees left-hander Wandy Peralta got Myles Straw to hit a soft fly ball to short left field, it looked like the Guardians were going to be down to their last out. But Cabrera seemed to get a slow jump before closing and trying to make a sliding catch. The ball deflected off his glove and rolled behind him, allowing Straw to advance to second. Guardians rookie sensation Steven Kwan followed that immediately with a single, which chased Peralta from the game. The Yankees brought in Clarke Schmidt who gave up back-to-back singles through the left side of the infield to Amed Rosario and José Ramírez before striking out Josh Naylor and bringing the Guardians down to their final out.

Fortunately, that brought to the plate Guardians rookie right fielder Oscar Gonzalez, who is turning into a legend on the playoff stage. Gonzalez had already hit the walk-off home run in the 15th inning against the Rays to end the wild-card series, and he had driven in the go-ahead run against the Yankees in extra innings of Game 2 of the ALDS. The only way to top that was, of course, to hit a two-run single up the middle to complete another improbable Guardians comeback, sending them to Game 4 with a chance to end the ALDS in Cleveland Sunday night.

Game 4 featured a rematch of the pitching matchup from Game 1 between Yankees ace Gerrit Cole and the Guardians’ Cal Quantrill. Quantrill’s impressive run of 44 career appearance (34 starts) without suffering a defeat at Progressive Field came to an end, though, as he gave up three runs in the first two innings, and suffered the loss.

The Guardians tried to claw back into the game, scoring a run in the second on a Ramírez bloop single, followed by a Naylor home run in the third. Naylor drew the Yankees’ ire with his celebration and subsequent attempt to energize the Guardians. However, this seemed to anger Cole, who went on to retire the next ten Guardians hitters in order, allowing the Yankees to extend their lead to 4-2 on a Giancarlo Stanton sacrifice fly in the sixth. The Yankees’ bullpen closed out Cole’s impressive outing, sending the series back to New York for a deciding winner-take-all Game 5.

Game 5, initially scheduled for Monday night, was delayed and then postponed until Tuesday afternoon. The matchup was originally set to feature Aaron Civale for the Guardians taking on Jameson Taillon for the Yankees. With the postponement, the Yankees announced that they would instead start left-handed All-Star Nestor Cortes, who threw five innings against the Guardians in Game 2, giving up two earned runs. The Guardians have struggled against left-handed pitching all season, but seem to be waiting out the Yankees lefties effectively in this series, getting to both Cortes and reliever Wandy Peralta.

The Guardians have not announced who will make the start Tuesday as of this writing. Civale was added to the ALDS roster after being left off the roster for the wild-card round, but with weather changing the schedule multiple times, it is at least conceivable that the Guardians will bring back ace Shane Bieber on short rest and make this an early bullpen game. Keep an eye out for updates early today regarding the pitching matchup.