The Guardians' Jhonkensy Noel narrowly missed hitting another game-winning home run in the ALCS Game 4 loss to the Yankees

It was time for Jhonkensy Noel to pinch-hit at bat. And just like the night before in Cleveland's wild comeback win in Game 4, more than 35,000 fans were hoping for Noel to hit a home run swing.

However, they found out that Big Christmas only happens once a year. If you're lucky.

Noel held back a ladder sweeper before firing a curveball high and over the plate. Leiter's third pitch was another sweeper, this time on the outside of the plate, which Noel swung at and tossed into the air.

The fans rose as one from their seats and tried to throw the ball over the wall in left field, but Noel had touched the ball too far out at the end of the run. According to Statcast, the ball left the bat at a speed of 90.3 miles per hour and a launch angle of 35 degrees. It flew 328 feet to the warning track on the left, where Alex Verdugo raced over and made the catch.

Noel's drive hung in the air for 4.8 seconds and sent Verdugo flying 85 feet to complete the catch. It had an expected batting average of .040 and a catch probability of 77%.

Given what happened in Thursday's wild affair, fans could assume that Noel's second brush with fate would have similar results. But the Guardians hitter knew immediately that he had missed his pitch.

“No, no, no,” said Noel. “I knew it was a little off.”

Manager Stephen Vogt had a good view of the game and knew Noel had hit the ball at the end.

“I thought maybe he had enough to make it go away,” Vogt said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a home run. I thought it might get into this little sloping wall. Verdugo played a nice game. It looked like it was about 1.5 meters away from hitting the wall.”