CLEVELAND — One Guardians reliever was watching another MLB playoff game recently when TV analyst John Smoltz revealed something that resonated with him.
Pitching in the postseason, Smoltz said, is like pitching at Coors Field, in the altitude, where the league’s most gifted hurlers go to perish. Every duel with a hitter is a war. Every pitch requires an extra degree of concentration and conviction. Every out recorded feels like a triumph worth celebrating.
Erik Sabrowski threw 29 pitches in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees and said it felt more like 100. He needed nine to set down Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, and felt exhausted when he returned to the dugout. But he’s new to this.
Since March, Cade Smith and Emmanuel Clase have carved up opposing lineups and anchored the undisputed strength of a team that morphed into an unexpected World Series contender. Clase could be a Cy Young Award finalist and Smith will score well in Rookie of the Year balloting.
But now, in the thick of October, the Cleveland Guardfians’ bullpen is wheezing. Clase has appeared in six of Cleveland’s nine postseason games while Smith has pitched in all but one. Both have lost their best stuff by now, and it’s fair to wonder at this point if Clase has lost his confidence, too. He was hit hard again in Friday’s 8-6 loss to the Yankees in Game 4, dropping the Guardians into a 3-1 series crater.
Smith’s velocity is down. Clase’s command is missing. The Guardians are going into an elimination game Saturday with Tanner Bibee on short rest and an empty revolver behind him.
“You’re so used to doing something one way and all of the sudden you’re doing it through mud,” Sabrowski said. “You’re just that much more tired. It’s crazy. Everyone’s standing up. The noise. No hitter wants to get out.”
Clase insists he’s not tired, he hasn’t been overused, there’s nothing ailing him mechanically. He has consistently voiced how much he craves the pressure-packed moments. After he was forced to issue an intentional walk to Aaron Judge in the 10th inning of a game at Yankee Stadium in August, he stressed that he wished he could face the soon-to-be two-time AL MVP. But Clase crumbled on consecutive nights against the Yankees — seismic, back-to-back blasts to the Yankees’ behemoths in Game 3, and a series of singles to the bottom of New York’s lineup in Game 4.
Giancarlo Stanton said the Yankees’ plan was “not being scared, not being intimidated.” Yankees manager Aaron Boone took it a step further, saying his club’s history of success against Clase has removed the aura of invincibility around Cleveland’s closer.
“When you have some success against him and you know he’s throwing a lot,” Boone said, “..there’s probably a little bit of confidence that we can do this against one of the game’s greats.”
Clase didn’t stick around to explain how Stanton and Judge whacked his pitches into the seats in Game 3. He exited Progressive Field about the same time David Fry was swimming in Gatorade after his walk-off homer. He sat at his locker after Game 4, staring into oblivion as he waited for a swarm of reporters. Clase said he’s never been tested like this in his career.
“He’s still the best pitcher in the world in my opinion,” said Guardians catcher Austin Hedges, “and it’s baseball. That’s a really good team over there with a lot of really good hitters and they’re allowed to get hits. They drive nice cars, too.”
Clase believes it’s a combination of missing his spots at times and also getting beat occasionally on good pitches. He hung sliders over the middle of the plate to both Stanton in Game 3 and the Detroit Tigers’ Kerry Carpenter in Game 2 of the ALDS. Judge took a good pitch, a 99-mph cutter on the outside edge, and hammered it into the seats in right Thursday night.
“Obviously,” Clase said, “(it’s) a little surprising.”
Clase, Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin, Cleveland’s four horsemen, all posted sub-2.00 ERAs and all ranked within the Top 10 in the league in appearances during the regular season. Smith and Herrin have pitched in eight of the team’s nine playoff games. Gaddis has appeared in seven. Clase has appeared in six, though he has been tasked with tackling multiple innings on several occasions.
Smith was over 200 pitches for both July and August before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt throttled off him a bit in September, likely in an effort to preserve him for this moment. He has thrown 141 pitches over these two weeks in October, 30 more than he threw the entire month of September.
Smith’s average fastball velocity during the regular season was 96.0 mph. During Game 3 of the ALCS, the pitch clocked in at 95.2 mph, and in Game 4 it dipped to 94 mph. There’s no hiding it, especially at this point in the season, in his 82nd appearance. He said it’s something he’ll assess with the team’s pitching gurus.
“The radar gun is right in front of your eyes,” Smith said. “They’re not hiding it from you. It’s everywhere across the stadium.”
Now, the Guardians have no margin for error and a pitching staff that’s on fumes. They need three consecutive wins against the Yankees and the idea of Smith and Clase overcompensating for a tattered rotation no longer computes.
Bibee will start Game 5 on short rest (though he tossed only 39 pitches in Game 2). The only Cleveland relievers who didn’t appear in Game 4 were Andrew Walters and Pedro Avila. Both warmed up at one point. Both pitched in Game 3. Ben Lively could theoretically pitch, or he could start a potential Game 6 in New York, if the Guardians have enough fuel to get there.
“Everybody is tired,” Vogt said. “I think we’ve used them a lot. We’ve had to. It’s who we are.”
(Top photo of Emmanuel Clase: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
