Saturday night in Cleveland was a battle of two very different styles of offensive baseball, as the Yankees scored five runs on five hits, three of them home runs as they took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Guardians, meanwhile, had gotten their three runs on 10 hits, playing small-ball against the powerful Yankees and, it appeared, that would not be enough. However, in the ninth inning the Guardians would not stop hitting singles, scoring three runs on five singles, the last of which came off the bat of Oscar Gonzalez, sending Progressive Field into full on pandemonium.
OSCAR THE CLUTCH! #POSTSEASON pic.twitter.com/6ZJUW8JSgI
— MLB (@MLB) October 16, 2022
It’s an incredible hit from Gonzalez who was down to the team’s last strike when he went down below the zone on what was really a good pitch by Clarke Schmidt, a breaking ball that got below the zone and forced a swing. Gonzalez was able to get the barrel on it and fire it back up the middle, and with the runners moving on contact with two outs there was never a chance for a play at the plate.
Cleveland, and most importantly, Spongebob Kid, were fired up.
SpongeBob is back! #Postseason pic.twitter.com/0tKgAa40XE
— Cut4 (@Cut4) October 16, 2022
It is the third go-ahead hit from Gonzalez this postseason, as he’s become the Guardians most clutch hitter in late-game situations, moving them a game away from the ALCS. On the other side, it’s a dismal loss for the Yankees, with Aaron Boone coming under heavy fire from Yankees fans for how he handled his bullpen in the ninth inning, leaving Wandy Peralta in for his third inning of work to start, as he gave up the first two singles, leaving Schmidt to come in for a clean up spot, which he wasn’t able to close out.
Source: https://uproxx.com/sports/guardians-yankees-game-3-ninth-inning-video-highlights-oscar-gonzalez/
