The Guardians lead the Yankees in walk-off HR in Game 3 of the ALCS

CLEVELAND — An hour after the Cleveland Guardians salvaged a season that was on the verge of ruin, the giant scoreboard above the left-field bleachers still flashed “Guardians Win!”

That was undeniable, even if much of what happened seemed almost impossible in many ways.

“All the emotions, ups and downs, back and forth, whatever,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “If there is an emotion, we all felt it on both sides.”

The bottom line is: The Guardians defeated the Yankees 7-5 in 10 innings on Thursday, cutting New York's lead in the American League Championship Series to 2-1.

But in a game like this, the final score means little, not after a game with so many late, wild swings that it's hard to remember that it looked much like a straight game for 7 1/3 innings. Forward, scored few points in the Cleveland win, which followed the script the AL Central champs have followed all season.

This script ends with the same scene every time. The Guardians are gaining a lead for their deep, MLB-best bullpen. The show ends with Emmanuel Clase punching someone for another save. With Cleveland leading 3-1 and two down in the eighth Thursday, New York's Juan Soto singled out the game's preeminent slugger, Aaron Judge, so Vogt did what he's done all year: summon Clase.

Clase, a Cy Young candidate who made 47 saves with a minuscule 0.61 ERA during the season, has become so consistently dominant that his teammates almost expect him to get the job done.

“There aren’t enough adjectives to talk about how good he was this season,” Cleveland designated hitter David Fry said. “He must have set records for pretty much everything you can do as a closer. You just give him the ball and we don't even watch the game. I feel like we're talking because we know the game is over.”

But this wasn't over yet.

Judge hit a 99 mph cutter, Clase's signature pitch, that was on the outside edge of the strike zone and drilled a slicing liner that cleared the right field wall to tie the game. Judge hit 58 home runs on the season and is the AL single-season home run champion, and yet it was shocking for him to hit that pitch from that pitcher.

“I think there is one person who could beat Emmanuel Clase out of the field and he did that,” Vogt said. “As a baseball fan, it was really cool. As an opposing manager it wasn’t.”

The judge maintained he was not trying to push Clase into the depths. Oops.

“I was just trying to get on base with a little single to right, especially with (Giancarlo) Stanton behind me,” Judge said. “When a guy like that is throwing 100 mph and has a good feel for the slider, you just try not to do too much. Try to put the ball in play and see what happens.”

The scary realities continued. Clase threw a slider hanging in the middle of the plate to Stanton, who hurled it over the center field wall for the go-ahead run. That was two homers for consecutive Yankees hitters against a pitcher who gave up two homers during the regular season.

“This guy is an all-world closer,” said Cleveland starter Matthew Boyd, who pitched five sharp innings before the game fell into disarray. “He has the ball every time the game is on the line and I’m going to pick him over whoever’s in the (batter’s) box every time. Our entire club feels the same way. This guy is great.”

The Yankees put up a run in the ninth, giving New York closer Luke Weaver a two-run lead to work with as he tried to get the final three outs and put the Bombers in a commanding 3-run lead. Games to 0 position to bring the series.

Weaver was perhaps the only reliever in the AL who was as hot during the route run as Clase. After the stunning turnaround and failure of Clase, one of baseball's few obvious certainties, Cleveland might have been expected to back down.

Instead, the Guardians remained determined to acquire their teammate, in part because the pitcher who had dominated them so often this season was disappointed.

“We were obviously shaken up, but it was just like, you know what, it's time to give him a break,” Fry said. “He’s carried our team in the ninth inning all year, and it’s time to pick him up. I’m glad we did that.”

So did most of the suddenly raucous crowd that watched Cleveland turn the tables on Weaver and the Yankees, almost as impressive and improbable as the home runs Clase gave up. With two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, Lane Thomas doubled off the left field wall to keep the game alive.

Still, Weaver had that two-run lead and only needed a final out. Vogt sent a rookie against him, the powerfully built 23-year-old Jhonkensy Noel, who hit astonishing home runs in his first season – 13 of them – and struggled for a long time as he tries to establish himself in the big leagues.

When Vogt chose Noel at that moment, he had one thing in mind.

“I mean, he pinch-hit to hit a home run,” Vogt said. “That’s why we sent him there.”

Speaking to Noel through a club interpreter, he said: “He hasn't said anything explicitly, but I know every time my name is called it's because they believe in me and trust me. That's what they've been doing this entire year.”

Consider trust well rewarded. Noel sent a poorly placed changeup into the stands in left field, a stretch that would get even more dramatic a little later. Noel leisurely walked to first base after making contact, fully aware of what had just happened on that swing. Game draw. Progressive Field erupted into chaos.

“It’s nothing special,” Noel said, modestly referring to the feeling of hitting the ball in that spot. “It’s the same feeling as a regular game and you have to have the same approach.”

Weaver came into the game with a 1.29 ERA and four saves in his first six appearances after solidifying a Yankees bullpen that had been in flux for most of the season. While he doesn't have Clase's long track record of dominance, he has been so consistent for the Yankees of late that his weakness on the Surprise Meter was very similar to Clase's.

“I really felt like I let the team down and myself down,” Weaver said. “It’s baseball. Something like that happens. One wave of the hand and it just feels a little devastating.”

Noel's hit evened the score at five and pushed the contest into extra innings. Both teams had exhausted their top relievers and suffered heartbreaking home runs. Cleveland reliever Pedro Avila pitched a scoreless pitch in the 10th, a sequence that included a strikeout by Judge.

That was the start of a rising postseason legend in Cleveland, Fry, who earned an AL All-Star berth as a utility player that season. Fry already had a big moment in October when he came off the bench in Cleveland's Game 4 ALDS win over Detroit and hit a two-run home run.

With Bo Naylor on third base, Fry threw another ball into the same left-field bleachers and finished the game with a two-run shot off the Yankees' Clay Holmes, another AL All-Star selection. The Guardians' merry-go-round was complete, from the security of Clase's entry to the despair of his failed save to the season-saving rookie kick and a win that puts Cleveland right back in the series.

“At that point I blacked out,” Fry said. “No idea. I remember looking back at the dugout halfway down the first base line and saying, “Okay, I just need to make sure I touch all four bases and come home and celebrate.”

With Fry's home run, there could be no more twists in a night full of such twists. The Yankees strutted off the field, the Guardians danced back to their clubhouse, the crowd cheered long after the final home run and the scoreboard flashed red: “Guardians win!” well into the Cleveland night.

Clase exited quickly after the game, leaving his teammates and manager behind to celebrate on his behalf, perhaps a fitting dynamic on a night when they did for him what Clase did so often for them this season.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our boys,” Vogt said. “That's exactly what we are. We never give up. We're going to get hit pretty hard there in the round of 16 and our guys have put in a lot of effort for the guy who's carried us all year. That was really fun to see.”