CLEVELAND— Cleveland All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase gave up two runs in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees moved closer to another World Series by beating the Guardians 8-6 on Friday night and 3-1 in the American League Championship Series took the lead.

Gleyber Torres hit an RBI single and New York scored the go-ahead run when shortstop Brayan Rocchio booted Alex Verdugo’s grounder on an error.

It was a chaotic ninth for Clase (0-2), as baseball’s best player moved for the second straight year.

New York scored three singles in the ninth inning against the right-hander, who gave up consecutive home runs in the eighth inning of Game 3, but was saved when the Guardians hit two home runs in the ninth and tenth innings.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run and Juan Soto hit a two-run pitcher for the Yankees, who can advance to their 41st World Series with a win in Game 5 on Saturday night.

Austin Wells also homered for New York.

The Guardians are facing elimination in the postseason for the second time. They’ve rallied to get past Detroit in the ALDS and need to win three straight, including two at Yankee Stadium, to have any chance of ending their 76-year World Series drought.

For the second straight game, New York’s bullpen squandered a late lead. The Guardians scored three runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and threatened in the ninth by putting two runners on base.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to Tommy Kahnle — rather than closer Luke Weaver — for the final three outs, and the right-hander was able to shut out Cleveland, something the New York relievers couldn’t do on Thursday.

Stanton’s 404-foot drive in the sixth inning off Cade Smith gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead.

Cleveland scored three times in Game 7 and rookie Jhonkensy Noel, who had a ninth-inning pinch-hit in Game 3, sent shivers through Progressive Field by flying to the warning track.

Cleveland tied the score in the eighth when the Yankees, injured in the field and on the bases, botched an easy play in the infield.

Bo Naylor doubled and moved up on an infield grounder. Mark Leiter Jr., who was added to the Yankees’ ALCS roster earlier in the day as an injury replacement, got Steven Kwan to show up. Leiter appeared to get out of the inning when David Fry, one of Cleveland’s home run stars in Game 3, hit a slow grounder to right.

Leiter rushed the ball to the turf and grabbed it with his bare hands as he approached the foul line toward first man, but the ball went through the legs of first baseman Anthony Rizzo, allowing Naylor to score the game-winning run.

Stanton, who hit back-to-back home runs with Aaron Judge in the eighth inning on Thursday, gave the Yankees a four-run lead with his 15th home run of the season.

Smith soloed and Judge singled before Stanton drove a 1-2 fastball from Smith into the stands, where a sizable number of Yankees fans were waiting for it to land.

Stanton tied Carlos Beltrán and Nelson Cruz for the most home runs in the first 35 playoff games of his career. Stanton also achieved a duel with Judge and Babe Ruth, placing him fourth in club history.

TRAINER ROOM

Yankees: RHP Ian Hamilton’s calf injury was so serious that he was left off the ALCS roster. Hamilton was injured while covering first base in the sixth inning of Game 3. He won’t be eligible for the World Series if New York advances. Boone said he considered using left-hander Nestor Torres but wanted to give the left-hander as much time as possible to recover from an elbow strain.

NEXT

Yankees LHP Carlos Rodón makes his second start in the series after a strong Game 1 – one run and three hits with nine strikeouts in six innings. He faces Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee, who was ejected after just 39 pitches in Game 2 and will rest for three days.

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