NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees will live to play another day, and they will do so thanks to one of their young sluggers. Just probably not the one everyone expected.

Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees earned a 1-0 win (box score) over the Cleveland Indians in Game 3 of the ALDS, forcing a Game 4 on Monday night. The game's only run came on Greg Bird's towering seventh inning home run against Andrew Miller. To the action footage:

"I've never faced him until this series. I've seen it on our side and seen how good he is ," said Bird after Game 3. "Just really trying to keep things simple, have a quality at-bat, get on base however I can, make it tough for him, and put us in a chance to get a run in."  

The home run came on a mistake fastball by Miller. No doubt. But a left-handed hitter taking Miller deep is no easy task. Miller allowed one homer to a left-handed batter during the regular season and has allowed seven total since becoming a super relief ace four years ago. Lefties hit .164/.268/.213 with a 31 percent strikeout rate against Miller in 2017.

"He's really tough, and I was just trying to (simplify) things down and stay tight and stay low and stay in my legs and have a good swing," added Bird. "Other than that, see it and hit it. It's what my mom tells me all the time. See it and hit it."

Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez have been the offensive headliners for the Yankees all season and understandably so, but coming into 2017, the Yankees thought they had three up-and-coming middle of the order hitters. After all, it was Bird who batted third on Opening Day, not Judge or Sanchez. Bird had a huge spring and appeared to be poised for a big year.

"I bet on it. To be honest with you, I bet on it. I bet on myself. And I got a little taste in 2015 and I've wanted nothing more than to be back," said Bird. "Going through the shoulder thing was tough, and I thought I got through that ... I learned a lot though, and like I said, I bet on myself and knew I could come back and be a part of this."

Unfortunately for Bird, injury struck again this year, this time an ankle problem that dated back to a foul ball in spring training. He played through it in April before landing on the disabled list in May, and eventually he had surgery. It wasn't until August 26 that Bird returned to the lineup, and it wasn't until the middle of September that he really started to show signs of life at the plate.

Bird went 13 for 44 (.295) with six home runs in his final 14 regular season games, and he's remained hot in the postseason. He went 1 for 3 with a walk in the Wild Card Game win over the Twins, and in Game 2 of the ALDS, he hammered a two-run home run to stretch New York's lead to 8-3. The Yankees did lose Game 2, but it wasn't Bird's fault.

So much went right for the Yankees this season to help them get to the postseason. Remember, this was a team in a quasi-rebuild that most had in the 82-ish win range. Judge and Sanchez had huge years, as did Luis Severino and other youngsters like Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery. The young players are the No 1 reason the Yankees exceeded expectations in 2017.

The one young player who didn't play much of a role for the Yankees this season was Bird because of his ankle injury. Between shoulder and ankle surgery, he's played only 48 of 324 possible regular season games from 2016-17. Now he's healthy, and now he's having an impact for the Yankees, and in Game 3, it was not a moment too soon.

"Plain and simple," said Bird, "I'm not ready to be done playing and I don't think the rest of the team is."