Unchallenged. Unshakeable. Unhittable for six months, Emmanuel Clase hasn’t been the same closer in October. The Guardians haven’t been able to rely on him when it counts the most.
For the second night in a row, the New York Yankees scored against the All-Star in the late innings, putting Cleveland on the brink of elimination after an 8-6 win in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series.
Clase gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning of Game 3 but was rescued by his teammates, who hit two two-run homers in their last two at-bats to avoid going down 3-0 in the series.
Coming in from the bullpen with his usual music, Clase allowed three singles in the ninth—two of them softly hit—while the Yankees scored twice to take a 6-6 tie and lead the game.
No team had much success against Clase all season. Yet, the Yankees overcame him twice in just over 24 hours.
“Obviously he’s as good as it gets,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “But I think when you have some success against him, and you know he’s throwing a lot, like a lot of our guys, a lot of their guys have thrown in the postseason, I think there’s probably a little bit of confidence that we can do this against one of the game’s greats.”
Clase led the AL with 47 saves and a 0.61 ERA, finishing the regular season with 34 consecutive saves. He gave up just five earned runs.
But Cleveland’s career saves leader showed some weakness when he allowed a three-run homer to Detroit’s Kerry Carpenter in a 3-0 loss in the Division Series. The Yankees have exposed him even more.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Friday afternoon he was not worried about Game 3 and wasn’t afraid to use Clase again.
“He’s the best closer in the world,” Vogt said. “He’s hung two sliders this postseason. That’s what’s true. Anything outside of that, you don’t worry about it. He’s made two bad pitches.”
He made a few more bad pitches in Game 4. In six postseason games, Clase is 0-2 with a 10.29 ERA. He has two saves, but both came against the Tigers, who don’t have a lineup like the Yankees.
Clase avoided reporters on Thursday but spoke at his locker on Friday to explain what went wrong. He’s not even sure.
“Yeah, I mean obviously a little surprising,” he said through an interpreter. “Obviously, I keep the confidence high and keep trusting what I can do. But it’s a little surprising that they’ve been able to get the result they got so far.”
Clase insists he hasn’t been overworked by Vogt, who thought the 26-year-old hasn’t been as sharp.
“I felt like the ball was just leaking back over the middle,” he said. “Credit them. They’ve had a great approach off of him the last two days. That is what the Yankees do really well.
They take a really good approach against your pitchers, and then they get pitches over the middle. They don’t miss them, and they really capitalized.”
Clase has led MLB’s best bullpen this season, and if he gets another chance, the Guardians trust he’ll come through.
“He knows that everyone in this bullpen and in this clubhouse believes in him,” said rookie right-hander Cade Smith, who gave up Giancarlo Stanton’s three-run homer in the sixth. “Two rough nights hasn’t shaken our faith in him at all.”
