Guardians' Matthew Boyd starts Game 3 of ALCS against Yankees

CLEVELAND – Left-hander Matthew Boyd will start for the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt made the announcement before a team practice at Progressive Field, a day before the must-win game for Cleveland.

The Yankees won both games in New York to open the series, but Vogt said he was confident his team was ready to respond.

“We always go into every game confident,” said Vogt. “We love playing at home. We love playing in front of our fans. I think we feel really good knowing we have three games here.”

Boyd, 33, signed with Cleveland as a free agent in late July and went 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA in eight starts. The veteran has limited postseason experience — seven innings in 10 big league seasons — but he has yet to score in those frames.

“I spent most of nine seasons watching the playoffs from home,” Boyd said. “I also had a year in Seattle (where he pitched in the postseason in 2022). It's one of those things where you think, 'Man, I know my time will come to do this.'”

Boyd started two games for Cleveland during its AL Division Series win over the Detroit Tigers, throwing 6⅔ innings with 10 strikeouts. He will face New York righty Clarke Schmidt, who was previously announced as the Yankees' starter for Thursday's game.

Schmidt allowed two runs over 4⅔ innings in New York's Game 3 ALDS win over the Kansas City Royals. His first postseason experience came in two relief games against the Guardians in a 2022 ALDS series. One of those appearances came at Progressive Field, where he allowed one run and three hits in ⅓ of an inning.

At least Schmidt knows what to expect.

“Having had those experiences and kind of understanding what that environment is like, especially in the situation that I found myself in at the end of the game, I think it was probably the most intense part of the game,” Schmidt said. “I think there’s a lot of learnings you can take from there and I learned a lot from it and am able to take pieces of it and try to adjust my game.”

The first two games of the series were rocky, especially for Cleveland, which was plagued by errors, wild pitches, walks and a lack of production with runners on base. Although it's not what the Guardians were hoping for on this big stage, Boyd says his team remains undiminished.

“We know what this is about,” Boyd said. “Our balance sheet speaks for itself. We did it in the regular season. We know what's inside us. We’ll just play our game.”