After New York Yankees' Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning off of Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland found themselves trailing late in Game 3 of the ALCS series.
All hope was almost gone, as there were two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Guardians were down 5-3 to the Yankees.
With a runner on second base, up to the plate came pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel, who had a 0.67 batting average so far this postseason (1-for-16 in pinch-hit situations during the regular season).
In view of the game being on the line and possibly the season, the whole entire crowd was on their feet to witness the one they call, "Big Christmas" attempt to pull off a late-game heroic moment.
And on the most important at-bat of his baseball career, Noel crushed a ball 404 feet way over the left field wall, as the northeast Ohio fans roared.
NOEL NO DOUBTER 😱
JHONKENSY NOEL TIES UP GAME 3 IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NINTH‼️
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/VC2kR4ETqp
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 18, 2024
This made it tied 5-5, and as the game went into extra innings, Cleveland had a golden opportunity to complete the comeback with David Fry at the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning.
That is to say, Fry stepped into the batter's box with two outs and Bo Naylor on third base, so all he needed was a hit. Nevertheless, Fry wanted to mimic his counterpart Noel and give the fans something they will never forget, and he did just that with a walk-off homer; the game-winning long ball gave the Guardians a 7-5 victory over the Yankees.
DAVID FRY CALLS GAME.
CLEVELAND WINS. pic.twitter.com/mM0VFWsfOH
— SN Ohio (@SN_Ohio) October 18, 2024
Ultimately, this will go down as an instant classic and can be labeled as one of the greatest games in franchise history.
The best-of-7 ALCS series has now been cut to 2-1, as Cleveland takes all the momentum heading into Game 4, which will be played tomorrow, October 18 (8:08 pm ET) at Progressive Field.
