Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Chapter 724 43: Three Homers in a Game, From 2–3 Down to a Comeback!

Just as Sabathia predicted, after setting off fireworks in two consecutive at-bats, Lin Guanglai didn't get even a single chance to swing in the ensuing game.

Every time he stepped into the batter's box, he was greeted by a close-up shot of the Indians' manager Terry Frankner. In the shot, Frankner always solemnly signaled to his pitcher and the umpire, indicating an intentional walk for Lin Guanglai.

Looking at the final result of this move, Frankner only regretted not listening to Callaway's advice and intentionally walking Lin Guanglai during the second at-bat, otherwise, the Indians would now be leading!

Yes, after adopting the tactic of intentional walks and giving Lin Guanglai no chance to swing, the Yankees' offensive power instantly dropped a notch. Although there were hits later on, they were always missing a point to turn hits into actual runs—the lynchpin that should've taken this responsibility, Aaron Judge, struck out all his at-bats in this game.

In the bottom half of the fifth inning, taking advantage of Sabathia's physical decline, the Indians produced their most brilliant offense of the game, hitting four consecutive hits, not only connecting the team to reclaim 2 runs but also knocking out the exceptional Sabathia, who had achieved 9 strikeouts in just over 4 innings.

"Sometimes I don't want to blame everything on the coach, but today I have to ask, why does Joe Girardi always make such amateur mistakes?"

In the YES Network's live broadcast room, after witnessing the team losing runs, commentator Michael Kay was exceptionally emotional, frankly criticizing Yankees' manager Joe Girardi's on-site decisions:

"Girardi always becomes indecisive at crucial moments, Lin is being intentionally walked with no balls to hit by the Indians, Aaron is in a slump this series, Gary, Didi, Brett, aren't the type of hitters who can clear bases... this means our upcoming offense will be severely hindered.

It's a well-known fact that CC's endurance is seriously declining, as the team's manager, Girardi should have switched pitchers early when the Indians got consecutive hits—Robertson, Betances, Kahnle, even Chapman were available options, our bullpen depth is so strong, why not switch pitchers sooner? Same mistake already happened once in G2, why commit it again?"

After a heap of words, Michael Kay slightly calmed down his emotions, smoothing his temper, and continued:

"I admit, Girardi has indeed contributed greatly to our 27th World Series championship, and this year there are many young players he promoted, but his stubbornness on the field has led us into too many predicaments. At the end of the season, I believe management needs to seriously consider the renewal issue..."

No matter how the Yankees' commentators and fans complained, the score gap has returned to 1 point again. With four innings left in the game, this gap is almost equivalent to nothing, keeping the suspense of this series alive.

However, just when Indians fans were hoping their team would use the momentum to tie or even surpass the score, the game suddenly fell into a stalemate:

Top of the sixth inning, although Yankees' Starlin Castro hit a single, the batters before and after him couldn't make advances, quickly sending three outs and ending the inning;

Bottom of the sixth, the Indians briskly returned the favor, with two groundouts and a flyout, totaling less than 10 pitches needed by Yankees' reliever David Robertson, quickly sending a three-up, three-down.

The seventh and eighth innings were similarly uneventful: besides Lin Guanglai being intentionally walked to first base as usual, neither side's batters had achievements, and both ended their offensive halves hastily.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the ninth inning of this must-win fifth game of the AL Division Series had arrived.

As the home team, the Indians would have a bottom ninth inning opportunity no matter what, which means they could possibly end the game like in G2 with a walk-off single and send the Yankees home; but the premise of it all is that they can't concede any more runs in the top of the ninth!

Cleveland fans couldn't sit still, standing up all over the stadium, dressed in the red and white main colors of the Indians jerseys, creating enormous noise and waving their support items, putting pressure on the Yankees batters about to come up.

Top of the ninth inning, the Indians dispatched their guardian Cody Allen (Cody Allen) to pitch, this 29-year-old closer being a key asset in the Indians bullpen, with 69 appearances in the regular season, 30 saves, ERA of 2.94.

In Frankner's plan, facing the Yankees lineup starting from seventh-bat Starlin Castro, the best scenario is for Cody Allen to strike out the three batters at the bottom of the lineup in succession and drag the game into the bottom of the ninth—by then, the Indians' offense would rotate starting from the third-bat Ramirez, entirely possible for a walk-off hit.