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Yan Gomes, Cleveland Indians comeback vs. New York Yankees

By Jim Ingraham, The Sports Xchange
Cleveland Indians celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees in extra innings at the ALDS Game 2 on Friday at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI
1 of 3 | Cleveland Indians celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees in extra innings at the ALDS Game 2 on Friday at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI | License Photo

CLEVELAND -- It was wild, it was crazy, and it was long. It was especially long.

Yan Gomes' RBI single in the bottom of the 13th inning gave the Cleveland Indians an electrifying 9-8 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Friday.

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The Indians lead 2-0 in the best-of-five series, which resumes Sunday in New York.

"The understatement of the year would be to say there was a lot going on in that game," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "There was so many things that happened that if we don't do one of them, we probably lose."

Cleveland did them all in the 5-hour 8-minute game, including using eight pitchers, virtually its entire bullpen, which allowed them to come back from an 8-3 deficit to complete the largest postseason comeback in franchise history.

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Cleveland's relievers held New York scoreless on three hits over the last eight innings.

"We've had a ton of comebacks this year. But this one has to be one of the best," Gomes said.

Austin Jackson led off the bottom of the 13th by drawing a walk from Dellin Betances (0-1), and then stole second base.

"We knew going into the inning that was probably our best way to go about it," Francona said. "We certainly weren't knocking Betances all over the ballpark, but he has given up some stolen bases."

Gomes then worked the count to 3-2, and hit a hard chopper down the third base line that eluded diving third baseman Ronald Torreyes. The ball rolled down the left field line as Jackson raced home with the winning run.

"I just tried to put the bat on the ball and move (Jackson) to third," Gomes said. "I fouled off a few pitches, and felt I was right on him, and then one happened to go my way."

Josh Tomlin (1-0), who was tentatively scheduled to start Game 4 of the series, was pressed into service as a reliever, and pitched two scoreless and hitless innings, striking out three, to get the win.

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Gary Sanchez, Aaron Hicks and Greg Bird homered for the Yankees, who blew an 8-3 lead.

Trailing by five runs, the Indians got a grand slam from Francisco Lindor off Chad Green in the sixth inning to cut it to 8-7.

"As soon as I hit it, I knew it had a chance. I was just saying to myself, "Stay fair, don't go foul," Lindor said. "A lot of emotion. That was pretty cool. A special moment."

Jay Bruce's solo home run off David Robertson leading off the eighth tied it at 8-8.

"Jay Bruce has hurt us this whole series, and he hurt us again tonight," Yankee manager Joe Girardi said.

Lindor's grand slam occurred after Lonnie Chisenhall was hit by a pitch, though replays showed the ball hit the bat. The Yankees did not challenge and Lindor hit a 1-0 pitch down the right field line.

"Lindor was coming up to bat when we were alerted, and it's frustrating, because if (home plate umpire Dan Iassogna) calls that he's not hit, then nothing happens, and maybe they replay it. I don't know," Girardi said. "But he made no signal that he was hit. The umpire thought he was hit. We did not have a replay that showed he was hit and I was thinking about keeping our pitcher in rhythm."

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Cleveland starter Corey Kluber had his worst outing of the year. He gave up six runs in 2 2/3 innings and was in constant trouble.

"He was fighting his command right from the get go," Francona said. "He had trouble getting ahead of hitters, and when he did, he had trouble finishing them off. Against guys he's handled in the past."

The Indians lost Edwin Encarnacion to a sprained ankle after he jammed his right leg into second base in the first inning.

"He had an MRI and it showed a sprained ankle," Francona said. "The severity of it, it's going to depend on how he feels. Right now they say he's day-to-day, which if that's the case that would be tremendous."

Cleveland took a brief 3-2 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Jason Kipnis.

The Yankees knocked Kluber out in the third, when Hicks hit a three-run homer over the right field wall.

The Yankees pushed their lead to 8-3 on a two-run homer by Bird off Mike Clevinger in the fifth inning.

NOTES: Indians manager Terry Francona said OF Michael Brantley might start in left field in Game 3 Brantley hasn't played in left field since Aug. 8, when he suffered a sprained right ankle that caused him to miss most of the rest of the regular season. He did get two at-bats in the last two games of the season, but those came as a pinch hitter and designated hitter. ... Yankees OF Jacoby Ellsbury started at DH Friday in place of INF Chase Headley. Manager Joe Girardi said it was because Ellsbury had the most success -- a career .263 average (5-for-19) -- against RHP Corey Kluber than any Yankees player. ... Yankees RF Aaron Judge faced RHP Corey Kluber for the first time in his career Friday. Judge did not play in the two games Kluber started against New York during the regular season.

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