Yankees vs. Guardians score, takeaways: Gerrit Cole, Harrison Bader help keep

The New York Yankees won ALDS Game 4 on the road against the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday night to tie the series at 2-2 and force a decisive game in the best-of-five series. Gerrit Cole and Harrison Bader helped save New York’s season in a 4-2 victory. The Yankees took an early lead and never trailed, but there was some drama into the late innings. 

Let’s take a look at how it all went down. 

Yankees strike early, Bader goes deep again

The Yankees got on the board before the Guardians even had a chance to hit. Gleyber Torres led off the game with a single, stole second base and then scored on an Anthony Rizzo single. 

They didn’t wait long to add more, as center fielder Harrison Bader hit a two-run shot in the second inning to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Here’s the blast: 

It was a no-doubter at 429 feet and the third home run for Bader in the series. He hit zero in 14 regular-season games for the Yankees, and before his injury and trade, he hit five in 72 games for the Cardinals. This is only the third time in Yankees history a center fielder has homered three times in an entire postseason, joining Mickey Mantle and Bernie Williams, according to ESPN Stats and Info. 

Cole looked like an ace

That’s why they pay him the big bucks, right? The Yankees were facing elimination and needed a big outing from their ace coming off a gut punch of a loss in Game 3. Cole went out and worked seven strong innings. The Guardians were able to scratch a run across the plate in the third inning on a José Ramírez blooper that had no business being a hit. 

There was one booming run given up by Cole: A Josh Naylor homer in the fourth inning. Naylor was very excited rounding the bases while calling Cole his “son.” 

Hey, whatever gets you going, right? That’s the eighth straight playoff game Cole has allowed a homer, tying Yu Darvish for the MLB record (via Katie Sharp). 

Cole locked it in after that. He responded by retiring the next 10 batters he faced and 12 of his final 13. 

The line: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 8 K. He threw 110 pitches, so anyone thinking of him coming out of the bullpen in Game 5 can keep dreaming. Regardless, that was a big outing for the Yankees when they needed it most. In fact, it could be argued this was the biggest outing of Cole’s Yankees career, given the circumstances.

Also, for fans of starting pitchers going deep into games (I’m raising my hand!), Cole going seven here was the eighth time so far this postseason that a starter has gone at least seven innings. There were only four such starts for the entirety of the playoffs last year (via Sarah Langs). This is a positive trend for the game as a whole, it says here. 

Yankees give Guardians a taste of their own medicine

The Guardians’ ways of putting the ball in play to make things happen really went their way in Game 3. They found a bunch of holes, sometimes on balls not hit very hard. Their first run in Game 4 was similar. 

This time…