Yankees vs. Guardians: Biggest takeaways from New York's dramatic Game 3 loss

Kevin Hickey

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Yankees vs. Guardians: Biggest takeaways from New York's dramatic Game 3 loss image

The New York Yankees put up a fight but ultimately fell short of extending their series lead over the Cleveland Guardians in a dramatic 7-5 walk-off loss Thursday night.

After taking the first two games of the series, the Yankees will now look to avoid letting Cleveland even the series on Friday night at Progressive Field.

This game was cruising along going into the top of the eighth inning with the Guardians leading 3-1. The Yankees offense looked lifeless until their sluggers came through in the clutch.

However, a rare blown save from Luke Weaver gave the Guardians all the momentum they needed to finish off a wild walk-off win.

The Yankees will turn to Luis Gil for Game 4 on Friday night with first pitch set at 8:08 p.m. ET.

Yankees vs. Guardians ALCS Game 3 takeaways

Entire offense fell flat...until it didn't

Outside of the second inning, the entire offense was pretty lifeless. The majority of at-bats were non-competitive, and Boyd retired the final 10 batters in the row. Only three batters recorded hits through seven innings, and they all came after the top five batters in the order. It seemed a comeback wasn't going to happen.

Then, the stars decided to show up. And they did so with extremely dramatic flair. In the top of the eighth inning, Juan Soto worked a two-out walk. As Aaron Judge came to the plate as the tying run, the Guardians brought in their elite closer, Emmanuel Clase.

Despite being down two strikes, Judge annihilated a 1-2 cutter to right field, bouncing off the top of the wall for a game-tying home run.

It was as clutch of a home run as it gets against the best closer in baseball.

But the Bombers weren't done there. Giancarlo Stanton followed his captain by drilling a hanging 1-2 slider to right center field in a shocking development to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Stanton's insane postseason continues. He joined Alfonso Soriano (2001) as the only Yankees players with multiple go-ahead home runs in the eighth inning or later in a single postseason.

Baserunning blunders continue

The Yankees continued to be arguably the worst team in Major League Baseball on the basepaths. The issues showed up in Game 2 when both Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Rizzo were picked off second base in the same inning.

In Game 3, Jose Trevino was picked off first base after his RBI single in the second inning. It likely costed the Yankees a run considering Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball to left field with a runner on third base. Instead of it being a potential sacrifice fly, it ended the inning.

After the Yankees took the lead later in the game, Anthony Volpe got away with a potentially massive mistake. He stole second base on an Alex Verdugo ground ball, which was fielded by Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez. 

Volpe continued on to third base either thinking Gimenez didn't see him or the ball went into the outfield. After a brief rundown, Volpe made his way to third base and a collision with Jose Ramirez knocked the ball out of his glove, allowing him to take third base and Verdugo to second base.

They got away with it, but it could have been a potentially inning-ending blunder.

Luke Weaver is human

Coming off an incredible breakout season, Weaver has had an equally strong postseason as the Yankees closer. But the game of baseball has a way of humbling everybody.

The 31-year-old worked around a leadoff error from Anthony Rizzo to get Josh Naylor to ground into a double play. After a two-out double off the left centerfield wall from Lane Thomas, Weaver left a 1-0 changeup over the plate to pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel.

He did exactly what he was supposed to do.

It's a tough break for Weaver, who has been so dominant for the Yankees. But this is what postseason baseball is all about. Every pitch matters.

Clay Holmes gives it up

While Holmes has been pretty resurgent during the postseason, he showed why he lost the role as the closer late in the season. After allowing a leadoff single to Bo Naylor, the Guardians bunted him over to second base.

Steven Kwan then hit a comebacker to Holmes, who surprisingly allowed Naylor to take third base, before throwing to first base for the second out of the inning.

Then, David Fry came through with another big home run for the Guardians this postseason, crushing a hanging 1-2 sinker for a walk-off home run.

The Yankees were one out away from taking a 3-0 lead in this series and now must stop the bleeding with Luis Gil on the mound in Game 4.

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Kevin Hickey

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Hickey was previously the managing editor of USA Today's Colts Wire. His work is also featured as a fantasy football analyst for The Huddle. A career .232 hitter, he is an avid reader of Spider-Man comics, an admirer of the James Webb Space Telescope, and a keen enthusiast of Ma’s sauce. You can find him on Twitter/X @KevinHickey11