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CLEVELAND — Guardians All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase gave up two runs in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees moved closer to another World Series, beating Cleveland 8-6 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single and New York scored its go-ahead run on an error by shortstop Brayan Rocchio, who booted Alex Verdugo‘s grounder.
It was a messy ninth for Clase (0-2) as baseball’s best reliever all season faltered for the second night in a row.
New York got three singles in the ninth off the right-hander, who gave up back-to-back homers in the eighth inning of Game 3 but got bailed out when the Guardians got a pair of two-run homers in their final two at-bats.
“Just getting it done,” Giancarlo Stanton said after the game. “He’s as tough as it comes to score runs off of. Putting it in play is the most important.”
Stanton hit a three-run homer and Juan Soto added a two-run shot for the Yankees, who can advance to their 41st World Series with a win in Game 5 on Saturday.
For Stanton, it was his seventh career postseason hit against the Guardians — all being home runs. He has three in this series, tied for the second most in a single ALCS in Yankees franchise history (Robinson Cano had four in the 2010 ALCS).
“I want a ring,” Stanton said of his postseason success. “Anything I can do to help us win, and this was a big step. But much more work to do.”
The Guardians are facing elimination in the postseason for the second time. They rallied in the AL Division Series to get past Detroit and now will have to win three straight — two at Yankee Stadium — to have any chance of ending their 76-year World Series drought.
For the second straight night, New York’s bullpen nearly blew a late lead. The Guardians scored three runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and threatened in the ninth, putting two runners on base.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to Tommy Kahnle, not Luke Weaver, for the last three outs and the right-hander was able to put away Cleveland, something New York’s relievers couldn’t do Thursday.
Stanton’s 404-foot drive in the sixth inning off Cade Smith put the Yankees ahead 6-2.
Cleveland scored three times in the seventh and rookie Jhonkensy Noel, who had a pinch-hit, ninth-inning homer in Game 3, sent a shiver through Progressive Field by flying out to the warning track.
Cleveland tied it in the eighth when the Yankees, who have hurt themselves in the field and on the bases, botched an easy play in the infield.
Bo Naylor doubled and moved up on an infield grounder. Mark Leiter Jr., added to the Yankees’ ALCS roster earlier in the day as an injury replacement, got Steven Kwan to pop up. Leiter appeared to get out of the inning when David Fry, one of Cleveland’s Game 3 home run stars, hit a slow grounder to the right side.
Leiter charged the ball on the grass and scooped it barehanded as he neared the foul line toward first, but the ball went through first baseman Anthony Rizzo‘s legs, allowing Naylor to score the tying run.
Stanton, who hit back-to-back homers with Aaron Judge in the eighth inning Thursday, gave the Yankees a four-run lead with his 15th career postseason homer.
Smith walked Solo leading off the sixth and Judge singled before Stanton drove a 1-2 fastball from Smith into the bleachers where a sizable contingent of Yankees fans were waiting for it to land.
Stanton tied Carlos Beltrán and Nelson Cruz for the most homers in the first 35 career playoff games. Stanton also moved into a tie with Judge and Babe Ruth for fourth in club history.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.