Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 714 39: Burn the Boats

"In a way, it's us players who have caused this situation—because we didn't perform well enough and didn't win the games, leading to Joe taking the blame for us."

"I don't want to talk big about coming from behind, we need to take one step at a time, one game at a time—let's win today's game first, show our spirit and skills to the home fans, and make the opponents realize again, we are the New York Yankees!"

With Sandman's leadership and encouragement, all the players in the dugout gathered together, shouting "Let's go Yankees" to complete their final pre-game ritual.

At 6:30 PM New York time, as Tanaka Masahiro stepped onto the pitcher's mound, the game officially began; while he was warming up, the commentators analyzed the series with the guests.

"In MLB history, teams that commanded a lead of 2-0 in division series have a 76% chance of advancing; only 7 teams have managed to overturn such a deficit."

The most recent instance dates back to the 2015 season, when the Toronto Blue Jays reversed a 0-2 to win against the Texas Rangers in the division series.

If the Yankees achieve this feat, they would become the second team after the Red Sox to overturn a 0-2 deficit twice—of course, considering their opponent is the formidable Indians, it's not going to be easy."

"Indeed, starting today's game is Tanaka Masahiro, who suffered elbow injuries earlier this season and experienced a slump in mid-season; but after timely adjustments, his form improved greatly towards season-end."

"To be honest, the Indians' lineup in this series hasn't been as dominant as during their 22-game regular-season winning streak:

Lindor has only managed 1 hit in 7 at-bats, Ramirez 1 hit in 9 at-bats, and apart from cleanup hitter Jay Bruce, other key hitters have been in a hitting slump...

Additionally, designated hitter Encarnacion sprained his ankle sliding into second base in Game 2 and is confirmed out for tonight's game—this might be good news for the Yankees, though he's recovering quickly and expected to return to the lineup tomorrow night."

"Of course, everything ultimately depends on whether Tanaka can withstand the pressure and whether the Yankees lineup can break through Klasek's pitching suppression to provide timely support for their starting pitcher—if they lose today's game, the Yankees will be officially eliminated, leaving no need to discuss tomorrow's game."

From the actual performance in the game, Tanaka's state tonight is outstanding, with a very high strike rate, and he's controlling each pitch on the corners;

especially his forkball, often used as his decisive pitch, has excellent control today and poses a great threat to hitters when combined with his fastball.

In the top of the first inning, Tanaka played steadily, delivering 2 strikeouts, inducing an infield fly ball for an out, and giving the Indians a warning with a three up, three down, winning the spirited applause from Yankees' home fans.

"Tanaka has already set an example for us, now it's time for us hitters to give our pitcher some scoring support!" urged Brett Gardner as the Yankees batters geared up to take on Klasek, today's starter.

However, Klasek, being the second starter for the American League's top team, is indeed powerful:

with a four-seam/sinker fastball that reaches up to 99.7 mph and averages between 94-95 mph, alongside an 86-88 mph slider, 81-83 mph/88-89 mph changeups, Klasek can toy with hitters through pitch types and speed differentials, making it difficult to break through him.

Gardner hit a ground ball that was preemptively thrown out at first base; Aaron Judge continued his embarrassing streak in this series with no hits, striking out on an outside slider from Klasek.

As for third batter Lin Guanglai, his fly ball to central field fell slightly short, failing to go out of the park, and was caught by the fast-arriving central fielder Jason Kipnis, eliciting a sound of disappointment from tens of thousands of fans at the scene.

From the first half-inning, the starting pitchers of both teams have set the tone: the Indians want to avoid prolonging dreams and aim to end this series today; while the Yankees' goal is simple, survive and keep winning—the game is swiftly heading towards a tit-for-tat pitching duel.

Quickly, the game moved to the bottom of the sixth inning.

The score remained 0-0, with Tanaka displaying the dominance of an ace pitcher in this night game, reminiscent of his days in Nihon Professional Baseball, having only used less than 80 pitches over six innings; even facing a potential crisis, he managed to keep the game taut, maintaining its suspense.

Now, it's time for the Yankees to attack again.

Leading off this half-inning is Yankees' first baseman Greg Bird, who once was sent to the minors for adjustment and faced injuries mid-season, but found his form again towards the season's end, filling the previously lacking firepower at first base for the Yankees.

With a count of 2 balls and 2 strikes, Bird turned Klasek's changeup into a slow ground ball before third base, inadvertently creating an almost perfect bunt effect, successfully reaching first base.

The cheers from Bronx had only just begun when, in the next second, Yankees' eighth batter, Todd Frazier, hit Klasek's high strike zone 94 mph fastball towards shortstop, resulting in a double play by the Indians' second-baseman-shortstop duo.

In a blink, Yankee Stadium fell silent again; it seemed this half-inning would end hastily.

Yet, starting from the next at-bat, this seemingly sealed inning for the Indians took an unexpected turn:

Perhaps affected by physical fluctuation and game pressure, Klasek first allowed Yankees' ninth batter, Aaron Hicks, a hit to reach first base, then consecutively walked Gardner and Judge, filling the bases with two outs.

This prompted Frankner to act: the Indians' head coach swiftly got up from the dugout and entered the field, expressing his intent to change pitchers; surrounding Klasek, the catcher and infield teammates praised their pitcher's performance.

In this game, Klasek pitched a total of 5.2 innings, using 85 pitches, achieving 7 strikeouts while allowing only 3 hits—considering the intensity of playoffs and the pressure at Yankees' daunting home ground, he'd done all he could within his capacity.

The relief pitcher replacing Klasek was former Yankee and one of MLB's top relievers, Andrew Miller:

last year's postseason saw him going 17 innings scoreless, setting a record for strikeouts by a reliever in a single postseason, greatly contributing to the Indians reaching the World Series, and earning him the title of "Postseason MVP" by MLB officials;

in this year's regular season, Miller struck out 95 times over 57 games, with an ERA of just 1.44, equally crucial to the Indians' triumphant climb atop the American League—among Indians fans circulates the saying, "When in doubt, find Miller," with assurances he can solve any on-field crisis for you.

And in this two-out, bases-loaded predicament, this premier left-handed pitcher of the league is about to face another exceptional pitcher, who also happens to be a notably skilled hitter.

Under the watchful gaze, Lin Guanglai chewed the gum in his mouth and stepped into the batter's box.