Rieber: Leiter gets a win and support from Pop

CLEVELAND – The text message arrived shortly after midnight Saturday after the Yankees won 8-6 over the Guardians in Game 4 of the ALCS at Progressive Field on Friday night.

It was from Mark Leiter Sr. – the former Yankees pitcher and father of Mark Leiter Jr., Friday's winning pitcher, the same day he learned he was added to the ALCS roster because of an injury. Ian Hamilton's injury showed a strong performance.

“That was great,” the proud father wrote to Newsday. “Wow. Perseverance, perseverance. He kept his head up, kept working hard, knowing the opportunity will come and I better be ready when it comes, and that's exactly what he did today. Has for three He hasn’t pitched in weeks and is out there in the right spot? That says a lot about him.”

Mark Leiter Jr. hadn't pitched since September 29th. On Friday he took 1st place 2⁄3 innings, allowed one run (only due to his own defensive error). Leiter was hailed as the star of the night by teammates like Tommy Kahnle, who earned the save in the ninth, moving the Yankees to within one win of their first World Series berth since they won it all in 2009.

“Tremendous – I don’t have the words to describe what he did for us today,” Kahnle said. “This is huge. I applaud him very much.”

Nestor Cortes, who is nearing readiness after a forearm injury and has also been considered for the Ladder spot, told Newsday: “There is always an unsung hero in the postseason. Tonight it was him.”

Here was the situation: The Yankees were coming off a bullpen meltdown in Cleveland's 7-5, 10-inning win in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run home run off Luke Weaver with two outs in the ninth to even the score. David Fry hit a two-run home run off Clay Holmes with two outs in the 10th to give the Guardians an epic 7-5 victory.

In Game 4 it seemed to happen again.

The Yankees had built a 6-2 lead thanks largely to a two-run home run by Juan Soto in the first and a three-run home run by Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth.

After starter Luis Gil went four innings, the Yankees needed 12 outs after Stanton's blast to take a 3-1 lead.

“It was still a long way to the finish line,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to get there.”

The Guardians got to 6-5 in a three-run seventh against Jake Cousins ​​and a tired Clay Holmes (eighth appearance in eight postseason games).

With the tie for second place and an elimination, Boone called on Leiter, who was not on the ALDS squad and was only added to the ALCS squad on Friday because of a calf injury Hamilton suffered on Thursday.

“Booney kept telling me to be prepared for anything,” Leiter said. “That there was a chance I would be used for big outs. And that’s kind of how it fell.”

Leiter immediately met Noel, the 6-3, 250-pound outfielder nicknamed “Big Christmas.”

Noel gave the Yankees a big scare with a fly ball to the wall in the left corner that brought the sellout crowd to its feet but ultimately landed in the glove of Alex Verdugo.

Leiter then struck out Andres Gimenez to tie the game in the eighth with the Yankees holding a one-run lead.

Still, it wasn't over yet. Bo Naylor led off Leiter with a double in the eighth and advanced to third on a grounder to Short.

With the infield out, leader Steven Kwan moved to second for the second out. Then the unthinkable happened.

Fry hit a comebacker to the left of Leiter. Leiter launched it, kicked it and then scooped it from the first base line to Anthony Rizzo. But Leiter was so close to Rizzo that he handcuffed the first baseman and walked past him as the game-winning run scored.

There was much question as to whether an RBI single was scored on an error by Leiter that allowed Fry to reach second.

After an intentional walk to Jose Ramirez, Leiter recovered and struck out Josh Naylor to end the inning.

When the Yankees scored twice against Emmanuel Clase in the ninth, Leiter was on his way to victory. He made it when Kahnle brought Brayan Rocchio to second on a grounder with two men on to end the game.

It was Kahnle's 10th career save, including two in the postseason, both against Cleveland (also Game 4 of the 2017 ALDS).

Jon Berti, who had just entered the game as a pinch runner in the top of the ninth, bobbled the ball – of course he did in this crazy game – before recovering and throwing the first pitch for the final out.

Leiter, who threw 24 pitches, said he was ready for the potential decisive win Saturday night.

Why not? He proved on Friday that he is ready for anything.

Anthony Rieber covers baseball as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since August 31, 1998 and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.