Gerrit Cole pitched like a postseason ace Thursday night, holding the Kansas City Royals to a single run over seven innings and sending the New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory at Kansas City that put them back in the American League Championship Series.
The six-time All-Star scattered six hits and struck out four before handing the ball to the New York bullpen, which dominated a tense AL Division Series. Clay Holmes tossed a perfect eighth inning and Luke Weaver breezed through the ninth, extending the scoreless streak by Yankees relievers to 15 2/3 innings this postseason.
New York will play Cleveland or Detroit of the ALCS starting Monday night at Yankee Stadium.
Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres and Game 3 star Giancarlo Stanton drove in runs for the Yankees, who fittingly clinched a spot in their fourth ALCS in eight years on the road. They won 50 games away from home in the regular season, their most in 21 years.
Michael Wacha failed to get through five innings for Kansas City, allowing two runs, six hits and a walk. He didn’t get much help from a long-scuffling offense that managed just five runs total over the final three games of the series.
GUARDIANS 5, TIGERS 4
Pinch-hitter David Fry had a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, then bunted home an insurance run in the ninth to help Cleveland force a decisive Game 5 against Detroit in their AL Division Series with a victory at Detroit.
Cleveland ended a streak of 11 losses in postseason elimination games dating to Game 6 of 1997 World Series.
Game 5 is Saturday in Cleveland, with ace Tarik Skubal set to start for the Tigers. The winner advances to the ALCS against the New York Yankees or Kansas City Royals starting Monday.
On the verge of reaching the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2013, the Tigers overcame a 2-1 deficit when Zach McKinstry homered in the fifth and Wenceel Pérez hit a run-scoring single in the sixth,
Beau Brieske had pitched scoreless ball for 5 1/3 innings over four postseason appearances before Fry, batting for Kyle Manzardo, drove a fastball off an advertising sign between the two bullpens in left for the second pinch-homer in Cleveland postseason history after Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series.
Emmanuel Clase retired five batters, preserving a 4-3 lead in the eighth when he escaped a second-and-third jam by striking out Trey Sweeney on a 100.9 mph cutter as the batter’s helmet came off.
