The Cleveland Guardians defeat the Detroit Tigers 5-2, as they continue a playoff push.
Playoff atmosphere came to Progressive Field a bit early. The Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers faced off in Game 1 of the final series between the teams. A series that could very well determine who takes home the AL Central Pennant. A face off of the aces, Gavin Williams v. Tarik Skubal with Cleveland fans packed into Progressive Field.
Gavin Williams started his night with two strikeouts and a quick first inning. Cleveland offense couldn’t capitalize on a Angel Martínez single and José Ramírez walk, but worked Skubal for a 17 pitch first inning. Gavin ran into trouble in the top of the third with back-to-back doubles putting a run on the board for the bad guys. The big inning came in the top of the fourth. Gavin struck out Kerry Carpenter for the second time to lead off the inning. Two walks and a single then loaded them up for Big Rig. Gavin worked himself out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts to retire the side.
The sixth inning came along and Gavin got two strikeouts and gave up a solo home run to put the Tigers up two runs to nil. Then the Guardians came along and chaos-ed their way into a lead.
Steven Kwan hit a bunt single. Angel Martínez hit a sacrifice bunt. Skubal recovered the ball but then tried to football snap it to first and air mailed it instead to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.
Apparently two bunts was all it took to get into Skubal’s head. José had a swinging bunt that scored Kwan from third and put runners on the corners.
Just when the momentum was at an apex and the crowd was roaring, disaster struck. David Fry, on a 2-1 count, set up to lay down another bunt and was struck by a 99mph fastball in the face. Thankfully he was sitting up and moving on his own, but had to be carted off the field. Stephen Vogt said in the post game presser that Fry stayed conscious the entire time and the team will not have an update until tomorrow morning.
George Valera was tasked with finishing Fry’s at bat from a 2-2 count. A wild pitch scored Angel from third and advanced José to second. Valera ultimately struck out, but that was only the first out of the inning.
At this point Skubal was completely, and understandably, shaken. During Gabriel Arias’ at bat, Skubal balked and José took third base. Arias grounded out, scoring José, and gave the Guardians the lead. As it was pointed out on broadcast, the Guardians scored three runs with the only ball leaving the infield being the one Skubal overthrew.
Gavin Williams absolutely dominated his outing. He finished the night having gone 6.0IP, 4H, 2R/ER, 2BB, and 12 strikeouts.
Erik Sabrowski came in to pitch the seventh. Sabrowski was in full Canadian Demon mode, getting two strikeouts in six pitches. It appears he has been taught the way of the “F-U Pitch” from Cantillo and Bibee. A stellar catch by none other than Steven Kwan made for a quick seventh inning.
The Guardians weren’t done yet. They finally made it to the Tigers’ bullpen and were looking for more runs to feast on. With two outs Austin Hedges drew a walk. Steven Kwan doubled, putting Hedgey on third. Daniel Schneemann came in to pinch hit for Angel and slapped a single in the hole to score two more runs for Cleveland.
Hunter Gaddis returned to prime pitching in the top of the eighth. Two strikeouts was a great way to start the inning. Gaddis gave up a single, but struck out the next batter to retire the side.
Cade Smith. Two strikeouts and a liner to José to close the game and he only needed nine pitches to do it. With this win your Cleveland Guardians have the tie breaker and are officially in FIRST PLACE.
Category: General Sports
