CLEVELAND (AP) — Jhonkensy Noel has saved Cleveland’s season. David Fry expanded it.

With two huge swings, the Guardians struck back at the big, bad New York Yankees and tightened an AL Championship Series that was all but over.

Noel connected for a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Fry hit a two-run shot in the tenth as Cleveland cruised past New York 7-5 in an unforgettable Game 3 on Thursday night to take the victory to bring in. Guardians to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Cleveland’s unexpected 92-win season and the AL Central title were on the brink after Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a solo drive in the eighth to give the Yankees a 4 – 3 lead.

But Noel, a burly outfielder known as Big Christmas, delivered an October gift and Fry followed with his second memorable homer of these playoffs.

“That’s exactly who we are,” said first-year Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “We never gave up. We got hit in the teeth pretty hard there in the eighth, and our guys took a huge step for the guy who carried us all year. That was really nice to see.”

It was exhausting, exciting and dramatic as the Yankees and Guardians packed the highlights of a season into three innings.

“That was playoff baseball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Both sides just kept coming with haymakers and big at-bats, big moments with two really good bullpens. They survived us. They had one more good swing than we did. That’s part of it. Tomorrow we will be ready to get started.”

The Guardians trailed 5-3 with no runners on base in the ninth and were close to falling behind 3-0 when Lane Thomas doubled against Luke Weaver, who had been perfect in eight save opportunities since taking over as the Yankees closed in. September. Noel then delivered his towering homer.

As he walked the bases, Progressive Field fans danced in their seats and in the aisles in a moment reminiscent of Rajai Davis’ tying run over Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning of the 2016 World Series Game 7.

It was fitting that Davis, who now works for Major League Baseball, was there to see Noel’s homer that now belongs alongside his own in Cleveland history.

“We are a team that doesn’t give up,” Noel, who finished 1 of 15 in the play-offs, said through an interpreter. “We’re playing 27 outs, so that’s pretty much what happened today.”

Fry joked that Noel’s homer was stunning and not a surprise at all.

“It was amazement,” he said of the reaction in Cleveland’s dugout. “It was so exciting, but then it was just like, oh yeah, of course Jhonkensy hit a tying homer against a guy who threw 98 hits for a homer.

“No one does that. Like Vogter said when he came into the game, it’s like, please, big boy, hit a two-run homer, and he did. It’s so cool.”

Fry’s swing immediately ended a fall classic.

Bo Naylor singled from the 10th against Clay Holmes and Brayan Rocchio sacrificed. Naylor took third on Steven Kwan’s comebacker before Fry, who hit a Division Series-saving homer in Game 4 in Detroit, sent a 1-2 sinker into the left-field stands.

Fry saw the ball sail into the stands before heading towards first. He was mobbed by teammates after crossing home plate as fans threw drinks in the air as they tried to process the emotional rollercoaster they had endured.

“I blacked out,” Fry said. “I remember halfway through the first base line I looked back at the dugout and looked and said, OK, I’ve just got to make sure I touch all four bases and go home and celebrate.”

Cleveland can even the series with a win on Friday.

The Guardians still have a chance to end the current longest World Series drought, which stretches back to 1948.

Judge homered in Game 2 but hit just .143 (3 of 21) with eight strikeouts in October before seeing action against Clase, the AL’s save leader and MLB’s most feared reliever.

After falling behind 1-2 in the count, Judge, who was on the field for batting practice five hours before the game, sat back and drove a 99 mph cutter from Clase the other way to right, with the ball just drove over the outfield wall.

New York’s players poured out of the dugout to celebrate as Judge, the presumptive AL MVP after hitting 58 home runs in the regular season, circled the bases after his 15th postseason homer.

The Yankees, who had been held to three hits through the first seven innings, were still exchanging hugs and high-fives when Stanton crushed a 1-2 slider from Clase and sent it over the center field wall.

But even though they had the lead, the Yankees took nothing for granted.

“I wouldn’t say we were looking ahead to the World Series,” Judge said. “We still have a game, even if it was 3-0.”

Clase had been flawless all season, allowing just five runs and recording 34 consecutive saves while dominating nearly every time he took the mound. But he was tagged for a three-run homer in the ninth by Kerry Carpenter in the ALDS before Judge and Stanton got him within an eight-pitch span.

New York had two with no outs in the ninth, but scored only one run on Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly. Eli Morgan ended the inning with a called third strike past Juan Soto.

Rookie Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run homer in the third for Cleveland.

The 30th postseason matchup between the Guardians and the Yankees was another closely contested matchup between two franchises that know each other well this time of year. This is their seventh meeting in the playoffs.

Cleveland finally got some length from a starter when Matthew Boyd pitched five innings, the most Vogt has allowed this postseason. The left-hander gave up two singles in the second before retiring 10 straight, including seven on easy grounders.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Reliever Ian Hamilton was waived in the sixth inning after appearing to hurt himself while covering first base. The team said he was left with calf tightness. … Boone said LHP Nestor Cortes made it through a short batting practice session Wednesday without any problems. Cortes is recovering from an elbow injury and has not thrown a game since September 18. If New York advances, he could be added to the World Series roster.

NEXT

Guardians RHP Gavin Williams will start Game 4, his first appearance of the postseason. The hard-throwing Williams had a disappointing regular season (3-10, 4.86 ERA), which started with several months on the injured list with an elbow problem. He will face Yankees RHP Luis Gil, who went 15-7 during the regular season.

___

APMLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb