NEW YORK (AP) — In the end, the Cleveland Guardians ran out of comebacks. And the youngest team in the majors was unable to halt baseball’s oldest championship drought.
Unwilling to start ace pitcher Shane Bieber on short rest, the Guardians fell behind immediately when Aaron Civale flopped and they never recovered Tuesday during a 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees in Game 5 of their American League playoff.
New York took the Division Series three games to two and advanced to face Houston in an ALCS clash of titans.
Cleveland went home for the winter with plenty to be proud of — plus the familiar pain of October heartbreak after losing its 11th consecutive postseason elimination game, a major league record.
The franchise is 1-8 in winner-take-all playoff games — dropping the past eight after winning its first one in the 1997 ALDS against the Yankees at home. The streak began with an 11-inning loss in Game 7 of that year’s World Series against the Marlins in Florida.
The only longer such skid in big league history is Oakland’s current nine-game losing streak in winner-take-all games that started in 2000.
And this defeat marked Cleveland’s eighth in a row with a chance to clinch a postseason series. The last five have come against the Yankees, the first three to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series.
In a word — ouch.
But with 17 rookies who made their major league debuts this season, the baby Guardians appear to have a bright future ahead, especially with switch-hitting slugger José Ramírez signed through 2028.
After an exciting late-season surge carried them to an unexpected AL Central crown, the Guardians entered the postseason looking for the team’s first World Series title since 1948 in the initial year following a franchise name change.
They swept Tampa Bay in the wild-card round and then — with a payroll nearly $200 million lower than New York’s — the Guardians moved within one win of upsetting the favored Yankees by rallying for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory in Game 3.
It was a hallmark of their entire season — Cleveland topped the majors with a team-record 29 wins in its final at-bat and did it three times in the playoffs, all three with rookie Oscar Gonzalez delivering the go-ahead hit.
The Guardians also won 12 times during the regular season when trailing after seven innings, matching a franchise mark. They produced 40 comeback wins in all, tied for fourth-most in the majors.
But they couldn’t overcome the AL East champion Yankees and a pair of star players who have become a consistent nemesis for Cleveland in October: Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton.
Cole won twice in the series, including Game 4 on the road to improve to 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in four career postseason starts against Cleveland.
Stanton laced a three-run homer off Civale in the first inning for his fourth homer in seven playoff games versus Cleveland.
Civale walked his first hitter on four pitches, plunked Antony Rizzo with a two-strike pitch before Stanton came up and lasted only five batters in his postseason debut.
The 27-year-old righty won his last three regular-season starts with a 3.18 ERA but hadn’t pitched since Oct. 5. He entered 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees — including 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA in two outings this year, allowing 10 runs and 12 hits in nine innings.
But after the second rainout of the series Monday, he was the choice over Bieber starting on three days’ rest — something the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner has never done.
“It’s not because he can’t pitch. Just, he’s been through a lot,” manager Terry Francona explained. “He had an injury last year and he’s had a remarkable year, but it’s not been probably as easy as he’s made it look.”
Bieber was limited to 16 starts last year because of a strained right shoulder. He threw 101 pitches over 5 2/3 innings last Friday in Game 2.
The choice to start Civale, though, was one of several questionable decisions by the Guardians on a day when they simply seemed out of sorts.
Amed Rosario popped up a rare bunt with a runner on and nobody out in the first inning. In the fourth, Francona did not challenge a call at first base when replays showed he would have won.
Lefty reliever Sam Hentges gave up a solo homer to Aaron Judge in the second, and the Yankees added a run in the fifth on Rizzo’s RBI single.
True to form, the Guardians tried to rally.
They loaded the bases in the third against All-Star lefty Nestor Cortes — who did start on three days’ rest for the Yankees after the rainout. Ramírez’s sacrifice fly shaved the deficit to 4-1, but Gonzalez flied out to end the inning.
Cleveland had runners on second and third in the sixth when Josh Naylor lined out to shortstop and rookie Gabriel Arias struck out.
Myles Straw grounded out with two on in the ninth to end it, and the Guardians were sent packing one more time in October.
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