{"id":98743,"date":"2022-10-16T12:28:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T12:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/oscar-gonzalezs-walk-off-single-gives-cleveland-alds-lead\/"},"modified":"2022-10-16T12:28:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T12:28:12","slug":"oscar-gonzalezs-walk-off-single-gives-cleveland-alds-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/oscar-gonzalezs-walk-off-single-gives-cleveland-alds-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Gonzalez’s walk-off single gives Cleveland ALDS lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CLEVELAND — The New York Yankees did exactly what you think about when you think about the New York Yankees. They went deep, thrice, and they still lost because the blooping and looping attack of the Cleveland Guardians just won’t stop.<\/p>\n

The Yankees bashed three homers, including a 449-foot shot by slumping slugger Aaron Judge on Saturday, but blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning to the small-ball Guardians, who beat New York 6-5 in dramatic fashion on Saturday , taking a 2-1 lead in the AL Division Series and pushing New York’s to the precipice of elimination.<\/p>\n

Cleveland did it the way that a bunch of gnats might annoy a bull, rolling up 15 hits, including 13 singles. The game-winner was the apropos to what the contact-hitting Guardians have been doing all season: Oscar Gonzalez bounced a two-out single up the middle with the bases loaded, plating two runs to cap the three-run, game-winning rally .<\/p>\n

The game winner put a sold-out Progressive Field into a frenzy, as the grandstand vibrated noticeably as the winning runs were scoring.<\/p>\n

“Not any type of pressure,” the unflappable Gonzalez said via an interpreter. “Just trying to put the ball in play and get the ball out. I’m just excited to have it happen.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Yankees collected just five hits on the night, four of them for extra bases, including the homers by Judge, Oswaldo Cabrera and Harrison Bader. But the power display went dark after an injury-ravaged bullpen turned out to be one arm short.<\/p>\n

That arm belonged to Yankee closer Clay Holmes, who was not used on Saturday to protect the lead after throwing 16 pitches in Game 2 on Friday. Holmes was on the injured list late in the season because of shoulder trouble, complicating how the Yankees can use him against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

“Part of the thing with him being available for this series, was not really in a back-to-back situation yet,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained. “He just hadn’t thrown any live or anything. So while he was pretty good today and I fully expect him available tomorrow, it just felt like we needed to stay away there.”<\/p>\n

New York’s decision to stay away from Holmes to preserve a two-run lead turned a lot of heads, though Boone suggested the plan to only turn to Holmes in emergency was in place before the game. In the Yankees’ clubhouse after the game, Holmes told reporters that he was surprised that he wasn’t used.<\/p>\n