Tribe win marathon
Yan Gomes singled home Austin Jackson from second base with none out in the 13th inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied from five runs down to stun the New York Yankees 9-8 and snatch a 2-0 lead in the AL division series. The Indians overcame an 8-3 deficit, a terrible start by ace Corey Kluber and an injury to slugger Edwin Encarnacion.
CLEVELAND — They’ve won this season in almost every way imaginable: comebacks, walk-offs, blowouts, nail-biters.
No. 104 for the Cleveland Indians topped them all.
Yan Gomes singled home Austin Jackson from second base with none out in the 13th inning as Cleveland rallied from five runs down to stun the New York Yankees 9-8 on Friday and snatch a 2-0 lead in the AL division series.
Despite an atrocious start by ace Corey Kluber, losing slugger Edwin Encarnacion with a severely sprained ankle in the first and facing the possibility of playing their final game at home, the Indians, with some help from a call that went their way, continued a charmed season growing more and more special by the day.
“The tendency of this team is to never give up,” Kluber said. “Even when we were down 8-3, we didn’t believe the game was over. We never feel like we’re out of a game.”
Jackson drew a leadoff walk in the 13th from Dellin Betances and stole second. Gomes went to a full count before pulling his bouncer just inside the third-base bag, easily scoring Jackson and touching off another one of those wild celebrations inside Progressive Field, where the Indians have been so good while running away with their division and winning 22 consecutive.
As Jackson sprinted home, Cleveland’s players poured out of the dugout and mobbed Gomes at the conclusion of a wild, 5-hour, 8-minute thriller that featured 14 pitchers and a call that may haunt Yankees Manager Joe Girardi for months.
“We just were supposed to win,” said Indians outfielder Jay Bruce, who hit a game-tying home run in the eighth. “No words, honestly. I’m speechless.”
Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth to rally Cleveland, which will try for a sweep in Game 3 Sunday at Yankee Stadium. Carlos Carrasco will start for the Indians against Masahiro Tanaka, who will try to extend New York’s season.
The Yankees had their chances late, but they stranded the go-ahead run at third in the ninth and 10th — and had pinch-runner Ronald Torreyes picked off second in the 11th by Gomes from the behind the plate.
Josh Tomlin, who had been scheduled to start later in the series, pitched two perfect innings for the victory as Francona ran out of relievers in a game started by his best pitcher.
Aaron Hicks hit a threerun home run off Kluber and Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird hit two-run shots for the Yankees, who may have caught a bad break before Lindor’s home run.
New York’s Aaron Judge went 0 for 3 and is hitless in 7 at-bats in the series with 5 strikeouts.
The Yankees lost consecutive games for the first time since they were swept at home in a three-game series by the Indians from Aug. 28-30. Now, they need to sweep three in a row from Cleveland.