Gio Urshela completely took over in a wild card game against his former team. In the fourth inning, with the bases loaded and a full count, he faced Cleveland’s top reliever James Karinchak. Karinchak had thrown three straight curveballs and didn’t trust another, so he went with a fastball. Urshela sat on it and crushed it to left field for a grand slam. The flip, the celebration, all of it. The Yankees took the lead, and Urshela sent a clear message to the team that had designated him for assignment two years earlier.
Later, with the Yankees trailing 9-8 in the eighth, Urshela made a game-saving play at third. A sharp grounder got behind him, but he somehow snagged it while on the ground, twisted around, and started a double play that ended the inning. That stop kept the deficit at one and gave the Yankees a shot to rally. They did exactly that in the ninth. Urshela got on base, moved to second, then scored the winning run when DJ LeMahieu singled up the middle. He’d also turned another double play earlier and just seemed to be involved in every key moment of the game.
Afterward, the Yankees gave him their player-of-the-game belt, which no one argued. Urshela was everywhere — with the bat, with the glove, and on the bases. From being cast off by Cleveland to delivering a grand slam and saving a run with his defense, this was his signature game.