All Aaron Judge and the Yankees can do is shrug off this heartbreaking Game 3 loss to the Guardians.
There’s nothing more heartbreaking in sports when one gets their hopes up after overcoming a dire situation only for them to be dashed yet again. This was the story of the New York Yankees‘ ALCS Game 3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. The Yankees overcame one of the best relievers in baseball, Emmanuel Clase, to turn the game on its head in the eighth inning, and yet they still managed to let the game slip away from their fingers — with David Fry giving the Guardians a game-winning 7-5 lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th.
This was an instant classic playoff game that any professional baseball player would loathe to be on the losing end of. The Yankees came oh so close; they needed to get just one more out from Luke Weaver in the bottom of the ninth, but instead, Jhonkensy Noel went yard to set up Fry’s heroics.
But at the end of the day, Aaron Judge and the Yankees cannot afford to be too emotionally devastated by such a loss. They are still in control of the series, and all they can do now is shrug off this defeat and move forward.
“Lots of ups and downs, just like the regular season. There’s always gonna be ups and downs throughout games like this. Two good teams going after it, just great at-bat after great at-bat. Some big pitching performances, but they came away with the last big swing there. Time to move on to the next game,” Judge told Meredith Marakovits of YES Network.
As baseball players are used to, they have to have the memory of a goldfish. In the regular season, there are 162 games, and players cannot afford to get too high or low on themselves. Remaining even-keeled even in the face of adversity is a must, and it’s now up to Judge and the Yankees to decide how they will respond after such a crushing defeat.
Regardless, they are still up 2-1 in the series, and they can still take a commanding lead in the ALCS against the Guardians tomorrow night.
Aaron Judge and the Yankees’ clutch heroics go to waste
Of course, the Guardians’ hitters bailed Clase out with an all-time clutch performance in the playoffs. But for Judge, this loss counts the same for the Yankees, regardless of the nature in which they gave up the game.
“A loss is a loss. If we would have gotten blown out here, it’s the same as that. The same result. It’s 2-1 now. Can’t dwell on it. Can’t mope. Can’t hang our heads. Still a lot of ballgame to play. Just refocus and get ready for the next game,” Judge added.
