Guardians notes: Pedro Avila shining in the ALCS after being left off ALDS roster

CLEVELAND — The Guardians acquired right-hander Pedro Avila from the Padres in a trade for cash shortly into the season. It was money well spent. Left off the Division Series roster, Avila is proving he belongs in the ALCS, entering Game 4 at Progressive Field on Friday night as the only pitcher on either team to appear in all three games of the series. He faced 13 batters over four innings and didn't allow a hit, striking out three. Avila's best work came in a dramatic Game 3 victory Thursday, when he pitched a scoreless 10th — striking out Aaron Judge — to keep the game tied for David Fry's walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning. "He's been everything to us this year," manager Stephen Vogt said of Avila, who went 6-1 with a 3.81 ERA over 54 games for the Guardians this season. "We got him from San Diego. He was our long guy in the pen, throwing in down games and giving us bulk when we needed it. And then he turned himself into a — he pivoted for us and got us out of trouble at times through the eighth inning over a leverage situation. "Whatever we've asked of Pedro, he's done, and here it was (Thursday) night in a tie game in the 10th, with emotions running high, and he throws a clean inning for us and gave us a chance to win." Back in there After making only one appearance as a pinch hitter over Cleveland's first seven postseason games, Daniel Schneemann was in the lineup in right field for the second straight game. He went 0-for-4 Thursday before being replaced in the ninth inning by Jhonkensy Noel, who hit the game-tying pinch-hit homer. "He plays really good defense out there, and with the way our bench has worked, Will (Brennan) is a really good pinch hitter and Jhonkensy is a really good pinch hitter," Vogt said. "And with this matchup (against New York's Luis Gil), I think it fits Schnee's abilities really well. And that's kind of what we've been looking at. We have to use everybody every night and we feel like with Schnee playing, starting in right, it gives us the best opportunity to beat the starter." An aberration? Using closer Emmanuel Clase for multiple innings hasn't worked well during the postseason, but Vogt said he has no trepidation employing the strategy again. "He's the best closer in the world. He's hung two sliders this postseason," Vogt said of the two pitches Detroit's Kerry Carpenter and New York's Aaron Judge hit for big homers. "That's what's true. Anything outside of that, you don't worry about it. He's made two bad pitches. "For Emmanuel, the year that he's put together and who he's been his whole career, he's the best closer in the game, and I'm excited to give him the ball with a lead tonight hopefully." Return to form After dropping the first two games of the series in New York, Fry said the Guardians needed to get back to playing "Guards Ball." Mission accomplished in the Game 4 win, according to Fry. "It was good pitching all night, amazing defense, obviously led by (second baseman Andres Gimenez), and then clutch hitting," he said. "(Brayan) Rocchio gets the bunt down (in the 10th) — bunts, bombs and chaos. That's what we talked about. It felt like (Thursday) we got back to that." Roundin' third In 51 previous best-of-seven series in which a team trails 2-0 and wins Game 3, 14 of those teams (27.5 percent) went on to win the series. The Guardians are attempting to become only the second AL team to lose the first two games of an ALCS, win the third and take the series, joining the Royals against Toronto in 1985. ** Cleveland alumnus Travis Hafner (2003-12) threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ** Saturday, Game 5, 8:08 p.m. Bibee (0-1, 3.60) vs. Rodon (1-1, 4.66). Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.