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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — Left-hander Matthew Boyd will start for the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees on Thursday.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt made the announcement prior to a team workout at Progressive Field, a day before what’s shaping up as a must-win game for Cleveland.
The Yankees won both games in New York to start the series, but Vogt said he is confident his team is ready to respond.
“We’re always confident going into every game,” Vogt said. “We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans. I think for us, knowing we have three games here, we feel really good about it.”
Boyd, 33, signed as a free agent with Cleveland in late July and went 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA over eight starts. The veteran has limited postseason experience — seven innings over 10 big league seasons — but he is yet to be scored upon during those frames.
“I’ve spent the better parts of nine seasons watching the playoffs from home,” Boyd said. “I also had one year in Seattle [where he pitched in the postseason, in 2022]. It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘Man, I know my time is going to come to get to do that.'”
Boyd started two games for Cleveland during its AL Division Series win against the Detroit Tigers, throwing 6⅔ innings with 10 strikeouts. He will square off against New York righty Clarke Schmidt, who had previously been announced as the Yankees’ starter for Thursday’s game.
Schmidt allowed two runs over 4⅔ innings in New York’s Game 3 win of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals. His first postseason experience came in two relief outings against the Guardians in a 2022 ALDS series. One of those appearances was at Progressive Field, when he allowed a run and three hits in ⅓ of an inning.
At the very least, Schmidt knows what to expect.
“Having those experiences and kind of understanding what that environment is like, especially in that situation that I was in, back end of the game, I think it was probably the rowdiest part of the game,” Schmidt said. “I think you have a lot of takeaways from there, and I’ve learned a lot from that and being able to take bits and pieces from that and try to adjust my game.”
The first two games of the series have been ragged, especially for Cleveland, which was plagued by errors, wild pitches, walks and a lack of production with runners on base. While it’s not what the Guardians hoped for on this big stage, Boyd says his team remains unbowed.
“We know what we’re about,” Boyd said. “Our record speaks for itself. We did it in the regular season. We know what we’re made of. We’re just going to go play our game.”