CLEVELAND — The Yankees swept a doubleheader on Saturday and then came within two outs of sweeping the whole three-game series on Sunday.
But the Guardians got the last laugh.
After Anthony Volpe tied the game in the ninth inning and Anthony Rizzo gave the Yankees a two-run lead in the top of the 10th, the Guardians rallied in the bottom of the frame with the help of some shaky defense to walk off with an 8-7 win at Progressive Field.
Ex-Met Andres Gimenez delivered the final blow, hitting a sacrifice fly off Caleb Ferguson to win it as the Guardians avoided the sweep.
The Guardians had pulled within 7-6 on Jose Ramirez’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th before Josh Naylor hit a grounder to second.
Gleyber Torres made a sliding stop and threw to second for one out, but Volpe bobbled the transfer to wipe out a chance of a double play.
David Fry came up next and hit a double off the top of the left-center field wall to put runners on second and third.
With the infield in, Will Brennan hit a ground ball to second that Torres bobbled. His throw home was late as the Guardians tied the game at seven.
Rizzo, who committed a pair of fielding errors earlier in the game, had put the Yankees ahead 7-5 in the top of the 10th with a two-run single.
That followed Volpe’s clutch hit in the ninth, which came off a 100 mph cutter from Emmanuel Clase and was hit into the right-center field gap for a double that scored Oswaldo Cabrera from first to tie the game at five.
It was Volpe’s third hit of the game (plus a walk) as he continued his red-hot start to the season.
The Yankees were in need of a big hit to extend the game after their former outfielder, Estevan Florial, ripped a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run off Luke Weaver in the bottom of the eighth.
It was Florial’s second home run of the series after being traded to the Guardians in December for swingman Cody Morris.
The 26-year-old was also robbed of a chance to impact Game 1 on Saturday when he struck out looking at a pitch out of the zone in the bottom of the ninth as the Yankees won 3-2.