CLEVELAND – In the first inning, Clarke Schmidt struggled throwing strikes, walking two batters. In the third, he struggled missing barrels. The latter proved far more costly as the Guardians scored four times, three of those runs coming in on a homer by perennial AL MVP candidate Jose Ramirez.

In that third frame, Guardians star third baseman José Ramírez blasted a three-run home run with one man out. It came on a sweeper that Schmidt tugged down and in across the zone. It wasn’t a terrible spot, but Ramírez was all over it, sending the 0-1 pitch 390 feet to right. Schmidt said after the game that he got the pitch to where he wanted it.

The Yankees tried to add some late drama to this one, nearly coming all the way back from a six-run deficit before falling to the Guardians.