Yankees 10, Indians 9

In a game that was delayed due to rain on two different occasions, the New York Yankees completed the two-game sweep over the Cleveland Indians. Cleveland battled from the start of the game until the finish, but couldn’t find a way to win. It was a matchup full of multiple lead changes, plenty of wackiness, a total of 388 pitches thrown, and lots of different chess moves from both managers, Aaron Boone and Sandy Alomar.

Starting Pitching

Carlos Carrasco took the mound for the Cleveland Indians. Meanwhile, Masahiro Tanaka got the start for the New York Yankees. Carrasco ended up pitching three innings while allowing four runs and three walks along with a home run and six strikeouts. He threw a total of 73 pitches during his outing. Over his big league career, the 33-year old right-hander has made a total of three starts and now owns a 3.86 ERA in the postseason.

On the other side, Tanaka threw a total of 77 pitches – 50 of which were strikes. Over the four innings he tossed, the Indians tagged him for six earned runs along with three walks. Tanaka struck out three Indians batters as well. After Wednesday’s start, the right-hander has made a total of nine postseason starts in his big league career with a 2.70 ERA over that sample.

High-Scoring Offenses

The main story of the night was the high scoring offenses on both sides. For Cleveland, the scoring started early in the bottom of the first inning as both third baseman Jose Ramirez and left fielder Josh Naylor each recorded a double. In fact, Naylor made history during that inning as shown here by Zack Meisel of MLB.com.

Josh Naylor is the first player in MLB history with five hits in his first five career postseason plate appearances.

— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) October 1, 2020

During the seventh inning, Naylor was pulled and replaced by outfielder Jordan Luplow. It was a controversial move at the time, but ended up paying off big dividends as Luplow hit a double bringing the tying runs home. Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth and that’s when second baseman Cesar Hernandez came through bringing home the go-ahead run, Delino DeShields.

For the Yankees, there were several offensive highlights during the course of the game. Everything started with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton hitting his second home run of the postseason in the second inning. Fast forward to the fourth inning and that’s when third baseman Gio Urshela came through with a grand slam. It came off of reliever James Karinchak who had allowed only one home run over 27 innings going into the postseason.

Catcher Gary Sanchez came through on a couple of different occasions. First with his home run in the sixth inning and again in the top of the ninth when he hit a sac fly to bring home the tying run in outfielder Mike Tauchman.

However, the biggest moment of the night for the Yankees came when second baseman DJ LeMahieu hit a single bringing home the go-ahead run. LeMahieu proved once again how he comes through in clutch situations. As a pending free agent, he continues to be an important part of the Yankees lineup.

Walks: A Common Theme

Besides the high scoring offenses and multiple lead changes, the main storyline in the pitching department was the number of walks issued. As noted previously, both Carrasco and Tanaka combined for six walks. The Yankees bullpen added four more onto that total. Meanwhile, the Indians bullpen recorded a total of nine during the six innings they pitched.

While it might not seem like a big deal, it did tie a major league record. Sportsnet Stats had more on that on Twitter.

Yankees & Indians tie MLB postseason record with 19 combined walks in a 9-inning game.

Game 3 of the 1957 World Series between the Yankees & Braves also featured 19 base on balls

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) October 1, 2020

The Yankees had five hitters record two walks a piece during the game. Of those five, the most notable was aforementioned Giancarlo Stanton who went one-for-two with two RBI and one strikeout.

Looking Ahead

For the Cleveland Indians, the offseason has officially begun. For the New York Yankees, their postseason is just starting. New York now advances onto the American League Divisional Series to square off against the division rival Tampa Bay Rays. It will be an intriguing matchup between both teams considering how the Yankees performed against the Rays this season.

New York went 2-8 against Tampa Bay this year. Tampa Bay has a bullpen full of intriguing arms, but they are going to face a deep New York lineup especially after this two-game series in which the Yankees scored a total of 22 runs. Game One will take place this coming Monday, October 5th. The time of first pitch has not yet been announced as of the conclusion of the Wild Card Series Wednesday night.

Main Image: Embed from Getty Images