Gio Urshela unloaded on a pitch in the fourth inning to give the Yankees the lead.
When Gio Urshela hit his first career grand slam back in August, he was just practicing for bigger days.
On Tuesday night against the Cleveland Indians, the Yankee’s third baseman stood at the plate on a full count with the bases loaded and blasted James Karinchak’s pitch into the stands.
Just like that, the Yankees went from 4-1 down to 5-4 up.
As far as second-career grand slams go, that one will carry a pretty big exclamation point. After all, not many Yankees can claim to have hit a grand slam in the playoffs. Urshela is just the thirteenth in New York history to do so. He is the first third baseman to ever achieve the feat for the team, per TSN’s Sports Centre.
Gio Urshela came up big with a playoff grand slam
Urshela has been with the Yankees for two seasons after spending the first years of his career with the Indians and the Blue Jays. In his first year with New York, he broke out with 21 home runs. This season regular season he hit six while maintaining a batting average of 0.298.
On Aug. 1, he logged his first grand slam ever against the Red Sox. However, September had been a bit of a cold streak for Urshela, who hadn’t hit a home run since Aug. 31.
Thus far, Urshela is simply carrying forward strong postseason appearances for the Yankees. He hit two home runs in the ALCS last year.
Cleveland built their lead against the Yankees early. Their first run was scored on a double by Jose Ramirez before the tarps came out for a rain delay. When they returned to the plate the Indians batters picked up where they left off, with Josh Naylor driving in two more runs on a double and Roberto Perez making it four first-inning runs on a single.