CLEVELAND – The text message arrived just after midnight Saturday, following the Yankees’ 8-6 victory over the Guardians Friday night in Game 4 of the ALCS at Progressive Field.

It belonged to Mark Leiter Sr. — the former Yankees pitcher and father of Mark Leiter Jr., Friday’s winning pitcher, who put in a gutsy performance the same day he found out he was being added to the ALCS roster due to an injury to Ian Hamilton.

“That was big,” the proud father wrote to Newsday. “Wow. Perseverance, perseverance. He kept his head up, continues to work hard, knowing the opportunity will present itself, and I better be ready when it does, and that’s exactly what he did today. Already has three hasn’t thrown in weeks and is standing there? That’s a winner. Says a lot about him.”

Mark Leiter Jr. had not thrown since September 29. On Friday he hit 1 2⁄3 innings, allowing one run (only due to his own defensive error). Leiter was hailed as the star of the night by teammates like Tommy Kahnle, who earned the save in the ninth as the Yankees moved to within one win of their first World Series berth since winning it all in 2009.

“Awesome – I don’t have many words to describe what he did for us today,” Kahnle said. “That’s huge. I really applaud him.”

Nestor Cortes, who is close to being done after a forearm injury and was also considered for the spot that went to Leiter, told Newsday: “In the postseason there is always an unsung hero. Tonight it was him.”

Here was the situation: The Yankees emerged from a bullpen meltdown in Cleveland’s 7-5, 10-inning victory in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-run homer off Luke Weaver with two outs in the ninth to tie the score. David Fry hit a two-run homer off Clay Holmes with two outs in the 10th to give the Guardians an epic 7-5 victory.

In Game 4 it seemed to happen again.

The Yankees had built a 6-2 lead, mainly thanks to a two-run homer by Juan Soto in the first and a three-run shot by Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth.

Because starter Luis Gil had already gone four innings, the Yankees had to get 12 outs after Stanton’s explosion to take a 3–1 series lead.

“There was still a long way to go to the finish,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I didn’t know exactly how we were going to get there.”

The never-say-die Guardians pulled within 6-5 in a three-run seventh against Jake Cousins ​​and a tired Clay Holmes (eighth appearance in eight postseason games).

With the tying run on second and one out, Boone called on Leiter, who was not on the ALDS roster and was only added to the ALCS roster on Friday because of a calf injury Hamilton suffered on Thursday.

“Boney kept telling me to be ready for anything,” Leiter said. “That there was a chance that I would get used to big outs. And that’s kind of how it happened.”

Leiter immediately had to deal with Noel, the 6-3, 250-pound outfielder nicknamed “Big Christmas.”

Noel gave the Yankees a big scare with a fly ball against the wall in the leftfield corner that brought the sold-out crowd to its feet, but ended up in the glove of Alex Verdugo.

Leiter then struckout Andres Gimenez, sending the game to the eighth inning with the Yankees holding a one-run lead.

Still, it wasn’t over yet. Bo Naylor led off the eighth against Leiter with a double and advanced to third base on a grounder to short.

With the infield in, Leiter got Steven Kwan to ground to second base for the second out. Then the unthinkable happened.

Fry hit a comebacker to Leiter’s left. Leiter booted the ball, kicked it and then advanced it off the first base line to Anthony Rizzo. But Leiter was so close to Rizzo that the first baseman was handcuffed and went past him as the tying run was scored.

A highly questionable RBI single was scored, with Leiter fouled for allowing Fry to take second.

After an intentional walk to Jose Ramirez, Leiter recovered and struck out Josh Naylor to end the inning.

When the Yankees scored two in the ninth off closer Emmanuel Clase, Leiter was in line for the win. He got it when Kahnle Brayan grounded Rocchio to second base with two men on, ending it.

It was Kahnle’s 10th career save, including two in the postseason, both against Cleveland (also Game 4 of the 2017 ALDS).

Jon Berti, who had just entered the game as a pinch runner in the top of the ninth, bobbled the ball – of course he did that in this crazy game – before recovering and throwing to first base for the final out.

Leiter, who threw 24 pitches, said he will be ready for Saturday night’s potential game-changer.

Why not? He proved on Friday that he is ready for anything.

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has been with Newsday since August 31, 1998 and has held his current position since July 5, 2004.