CLEVELAND — When Cade Smith’s 31st and final pitch was lined directly into the glove of a leaping C.J. Kayfus in the ninth inning on Wednesday, a sea of red at Progressive Field erupted in celebration.
And if those fans took a deep exhale afterward, as Smith, catcher Bo Naylor and the Guardians came together around the pitcher’s mound to celebrate, you can’t blame them.
The Guardians proved you cannot count them out when they surged in September to clinch a once-improbable division title. On the first day of October, they assured that their magical late-season ride will continue for at least one more day.
The Guardians scored five times in the eighth inning, punctuated with home runs by Brayan Rocchio and Naylor, in their 6-1 win over the Tigers in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series. Cleveland forced a win-or-go-home Game 3 on Thursday.
“It’s important to just understand that we’re here for a reason,” Naylor said. “We’re here because we trust the guys that are in that clubhouse at our sides. It’s out in the field, in whatever position we’re at. And we know that we have all the tools to be able to go far in this game.”
A team that has had its back up against the wall for weeks, the Guardians will once more look to defy expectations on Thursday. They once more will need to overcome a Tigers team that they trailed by 15 1/2 games in the AL Central, before completing a historic comeback to win the division.
They gave themselves a shot with an eighth-inning surge on Wednesday, started by Rocchio. His blast marked the first go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later when facing elimination in Cleveland postseason history.
“Rocchio broke the tension with the homer, and the boys let loose,” manager Stephen Vogt said.
The Guardians will look to carry that momentum into Thursday, with everything on the line. Of the 20 previous teams to lose Game 1 in a best-of-three Wild Card Series, just four had forced a Game 3, and all of them did so at home. The 2020 A’s and Padres both completed the comeback, while the 2022 Mets and 2024 Brewers did not.
In postseason history, teams are only 64-66 in winner-take-all games in their home ballpark.
“We always say we try to always play without pressure,” Rocchio said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “That’s our type of ball. We just play, and we realize we’re going to play until the last out. Even if we’re down by 10, we’ll know we’ll continue to try to play that type of ball.”
That mentality launched Cleveland to its second consecutive division title and a win on Wednesday. George Valera’s solo homer in the first (his first career postseason blast) opened the scoring and sent a jolt into a crowd of 26,669 fans. But the Guardians’ lineup soon sputtered.
Over the first seven innings, Cleveland recorded just two hits — Valera’s homer and a Kayfus single in the fifth. Chase DeLauter (making his MLB debut) drew a walk, while José Ramírez had a pair of his own. As the Tigers put heavy traffic on the bases, it felt time and time again like the air was about to be let out of Progressive Field.
Cleveland’s pitching staff kept the club in the game, including when Tim Herrin took over for Hunter Gaddis in the seventh and struck out two to escape a jam with runners at the corners. Detroit ultimately left 15 men on base. An inning later, as Rocchio prepared for his at-bat against Troy Melton, Ramírez offered him a word of advice: look for his fastball.
Ramírez tagged Melton for a two-run homer off a low cutter in Cleveland’s 3-1 win over Detroit on Sept. 18. Taking that advice, Rocchio crushed a 99.9 mph four-seamer middle-in into the right-field seats. Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann immediately followed with back-to-back doubles.
Moments after Melton intentionally walked Ramírez, Naylor hit a towering fly ball off Brant Hurter that carried over the right-field wall. Naylor pounded his chest as he rounded first base to celebrate his first career postseason homer.
“It was a frustrating day offensively for us,” Vogt said. “Two hits leading into the eighth. For our guys to explode and get separation felt good.”
The stakes will be even higher on Thursday with an ALDS berth and matchup against the Mariners on the line. But the mentality will remain unchanged for a Guardians team that has fought tooth and nail to get to this point.
“We should be going out there, having fun, just continuing to play our game and take advantage of every opportunity that’s in front of us,” Naylor said. “I think that’s what we do when we’re at our best.”
