ALDS: Yankees Even Series With Game 4 Win Over Cleveland Guardians

“He just kept slowing himself down, making sure he executed,” Manager Aaron Boone said of Cole. “Obviously emptied the tank. You saw some emotion there at the end when he was probably out of gas the last two, three hitters. Just a huge, big-time performance in this environment and to get us back home.”

Cole said he didn’t change anything about his routine for the season-saving start.

“Preparing for this game, when he told me I was going Game 4 and there’s an opportunity to clinch or an opportunity to go home, I didn’t approach the game any different,” Cole said of Boone. “I just went out there and did my job.”

The Yankees’ and Guardians’ fates now come down to this: Game 5, at Yankee Stadium, on Monday night, the Yankees’ Jameson Taillon vs. the Guardians’ Aaron Civale to start.

The winner will advance to the A.L. Championship Series to face the perennially contending Houston Astros, who are making their sixth straight appearance in that round. Last year, the Astros lost the World Series to Atlanta.

“If you would have told me back in, I don’t know, March we just signed up to play Game 5 in New York, to go to the A.L.C.S., I would have jogged to New York,” Guardians Manager Terry Francona said. “I’m excited.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/sports/baseball/yankees-guardians-alds-game-4.html