CLEVELAND, Ohio – You don’t just hand someone a bat and tell them to hit a home run.

Not with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Not when your team is down 5-3 after giving up a lead in the most crushing way possible. Not with the man who was gone for over a month and had 76 caps since leaving the yard as your best option.

You just don’t do that.

But manager Stephen Vogt and the Guardians did. And Big Christmas made it possible.

Jhonkensy Noel’s two-out, game-tying, pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth sent Game 3 of the American League Championship Series into extra innings, where David Fry himself scored a two-run walk-off shot for a 7-game victory -5 Guardians.

Fry said the script called for Cleveland’s gentle giant to wrest the spotlight from the grasp of New York MVP and captain Aaron Judge, who had authored his own signature game-tying home run in the top of the eighth inning off otherwise unflappable closer Emmanuel Clase.

“It’s like, ‘Please, Big Boy, hit a two-run homer,’ and he did,” Fry said. “It’s so cool.”

Noel’s surefire shot at Yankees closer Luke Weaver came on a 1-0 changeup that hung tantalizingly over the center of the plate. Weaver said it was the worst pitch he had thrown all night.

“The ball came out of my hands a little bit differently,” Weaver told reporters afterward. “He took an aggressive swipe and he got it. The way he waved at it made me think he was looking for it.

Noel said his plan was to hunt for a pitch close to his body, and when he got one, take a good swing at it.

“It was about the location,” Noel said through Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “That’s kind of like my strength and I knew I was able to perform if he threw (first) a fastball and then the changeup like he did.”

The home run was the sixth postseason home run in the ninth inning or later in Major League history and only the second in Cleveland history, joining Albert Belle in Game 1 of the 1995 AL Division Series against Boston.

Belle’s solo home run (and subsequent biceps flex) off Rick Aguilera in the 11th allowed Cleveland to run off Tony Peña’s game-winner in the 13th inning in the first-ever postseason game at the ballpark then known as Jacobs Field.

The last time a pinch-hit home run tied a playoff game in the ninth inning or later was Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS when the Yankees’ Raúl Ibanez hit a solo shot to beat Baltimore.

Noel had gone 1 for 15 in the postseason and had not had an extra base hit in 41 at bats. His last home run came on August 30 against Pittsburgh, a stretch of 76 at-bats without leaving the yard.

But Vogt told Noel to pick up a bat for one reason, and one reason only.

“He pinch-hit to hit a home run,” Vogt said. “That’s why we sent him there.”

Noel said he knows every time his name is mentioned it’s because Vogt and the Guardians’ coaches believe in him and trust him.

“That’s something they’ve been doing all year,” Noel said. “I know that when the match makes sense for them, they will trust me in that situation.”

Vogt said the moment is never too big for Big Christmas, and that the Dominican native hadn’t taken a bigger swing with the bat until that one in the 10th inning.

“No matter what happens — if he’s struggling, not struggling, you name it — he’s going to step up and he’ll give you everything he’s got as soon as he gets there,” Vogt said. “He didn’t speed up. He is not afraid of the big moment. We saw that in his debut. We’ve seen it time and time again.”

The reaction in the dugout to Noel’s blast was overwhelming.

“It was amazement,” Fry said. “It was so exciting, but then I thought, ‘Oh yeah, of course Jhonkensy hit a draw against a guy who threw 98 and throws a changeup, and he hits it for a home run.’ Nobody does that.”

Game 3 starter Matthew Boyd said there was a feeling among the players that Noel had a chance at a big moment.

“You just knew something good was going to happen,” Boyd said. “Those guys who come to the plate. Man, this isn’t the first time he’s come through in a big moment like this. I’m so happy for him.”