CLEVELAND — When the Yankees left here five days ago, they were devastated. They boarded a plane for New York on the brink of elimination with their manager, Joe Girardi, under siege for a tactical blunder that set the stage for an excruciating 13-inning defeat and a daunting deficit in this series.
When the Yankees departed here in the wee hours of Thursday morning, they did so only after they had washed the Champagne out of their hair — and they were feeling sky-high long before they got to the airport.
Behind two home runs from their reluctant slugger, Didi Gregorius; a lockdown performance from reliever David Robertson; and an epic late at-bat from Brett Gardner, the Yankees capped a resounding comeback in this American League division series Wednesday night with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians.