Cleveland throws away opportunity
Severino throws seven strong innings, while Yankees take advantage of sloppy fielding
NEW YORK— Luis Severino bounced back from his playoff debacle, slumping Aaron Judge delivered a big hit and the New York Yankees took advantage of shoddy fielding by Cleveland to beat the Indians 7-3 Monday night and push their AL Division Series to a decisive Game 5.
Gary Sanchez homered and Judge laced an early two-run double for his only hit of the series to go with 12 strikeouts in 15 at-bats.
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer struggled on three days’ rest and was chased in the second inning. But it was on the wet Yankee Stadium field where the Indians really flopped, committing a season-high four errors that marked a franchise record for a post-season game and led to six unearned runs. The defending AL champions made only 76 errors all season, the lowest total in the league.
After preventing a three-game sweep with a 1-0 win Sunday night, the wild-card Yankees will start CC Sabathia against his original team in Game 5 at Cleveland on Wednesday. Indians ace Corey Kluber gets the ball in a rematch from Game 2, when he was hit hard by New York.
The winner will face Houston in the AL Championship Series after the Astros finished off Boston in four games earlier Monday to win their ALDS.
Just taking two in a row to send the series back to Cleveland was no small feat for the Yankees. The last time the Indians lost consecutive games was Aug. 22-23 at home against Boston, just before starting their AL-record 22-game winning streak. From that point on, Cleveland had gone 35-4 before arriving at Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the ALDS.
Severino got only one out during the wild-card game win against Minnesota last Tuesday. This time, the 23-year-old ace was determined to come through, and he did.
Handed an early 5-0 lead, the righthander struck out nine in seven innings and gave up four hits, including Carlos Santana’s two-run homer and Roberto Perez’s solo shot.
Tommy Kahnle relieved a wild Dellin Betances in the eighth and got six outs for his first save of the season as New York improved to 3-0 when facing playoff elimination this year.
Sanchez hit his second home run of the series off Bryan Shaw in the sixth to make it 7-3.
A rainy day in the Big Apple prevented both teams from taking batting practice on the field. But the tarp was pulled and play started right on time, with fans in hooded ponchos bunched below the overhangs seeking cover from a heavy drizzle.
The first of two costly errors by normally sure-handed third baseman Giovanny Urshela was a painful one. Starlin Castro’s sinking line drive in the second struck him just above the left ankle and caromed away for an error.
With two outs, Todd Frazier pulled a 78 mph curve to deep left and it landed smack on the foul line for an RBI double. A frustrated Bauer gestured with his hand when he didn’t get a strike-three call on a checked swing by Aaron Hicks, who soon singled home a run.
Brett Gardner singled and, after a mound visit from Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway, Judge had a gritty at-bat. The rookie slugger was 0 for 11 with nine strikeouts in the series before fighting back from 0-2 to a full count and lining a two-run double to the left-field wall.
Bauer managed only five outs after tossing two-hit ball with eight strikeouts over 6 2⁄ innings during a 4-0
3 win in the series opener last Thursday. All four runs he allowed were unearned.