The Cleveland Guardians<\/a> snuck past the Detroit Tigers<\/a>, 5\u20134, on Thursday to tie the ALDS at two games apiece. A pinch-homer by David Fry<\/a><\/strong> in the seventh prolonged the Guardians’ season for another day, at least. A decisive Game Five of this American League Division Series will take place on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4:38 pm Eastern at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Starting pitchers for both teams had yet to be announced as of press time. The winner of this game will move on to face the New York Yankees<\/a> in the American League Championship Series.<\/p>\n The Guardians got on the board right away in the top of the first off Tigers starter Reese Olson<\/a><\/strong>. Back-to-back singles by Steven Kwan<\/a><\/strong> and Kyle Manzardo<\/a><\/strong> opened the frame. After Jose Ramirez<\/a><\/strong> flied to left, Kwan swiped third for his first steal of the postseason. On deck was Josh Naylor<\/a><\/strong>, who struck out swinging to bring up Lane Thomas<\/a><\/strong>. Kwan scored when Thomas singled to right.<\/p>\n The Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the second off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee<\/a><\/strong>. Colt Keith<\/a><\/strong> led off with a walk and advanced to third on a single to right by Spencer Torkelson<\/a><\/strong>. Up next was Zach McKinstry<\/a><\/strong>, who drew a free pass as well. Moments later, Keith crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly to center by Trey Sweeney<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The score remained tied until the top of the fifth. The Guardians took a 2\u20131 lead against Tigers reliever Tyler Holton<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>courtesy of a solo home run to left by Ramirez.\u00a0The Tigers followed suit and tied the game again in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff home run to left by McKinstry. This brought Guardians manager Stephen Vogt<\/a><\/strong> to the mound to bring in Cade Smith<\/a><\/strong> to relieve Bibee.<\/p>\n The Tigers took a slim 3\u20132 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Kerry Carpenter<\/a><\/strong> led off with a single to left. After Matt Vierling<\/a><\/strong> struck out swinging, Riley Greene<\/a><\/strong> moved Carpenter to second with a walk. Vogt made another pitching change and brought in Hunter Gaddis<\/a><\/strong>. Up next was Keith, who struck out swinging, bringing up Wenceel Perez<\/a><\/strong> as a pinch-hitter for Torkelson. On the next play, Carpenter scored thanks to a single to left by Perez. Carpenter exited in the bottom of the seventh with a tweaked left hamstring.<\/p>\n The Guardians regained the lead in the top of the seventh against Tigers reliever Sean Guenther<\/a><\/strong>. A single to center by Kwan with two outs in the frame set the table. Fry entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Manzardo, and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch<\/a><\/strong> countered that move by bringing in Beau Brieske<\/a><\/strong> to relieve Guenther. The Guardians mated the Tigers in their brief game of Chess when Fry blasted one over the wall in left-center, giving his team a 4\u20133 lead. It marked the first go-ahead dinger by a pinch-hitter in postseason history for the Cleveland American League franchise.<\/p>\n The Guardians added an insurance run in the top of the ninth with reliever Jackson Jobe<\/a><\/strong> on the mound for the Tigers. Brayan Rocchio<\/a><\/strong> hit a one-out single to center, and Kwan made it back-to-back singles with a liner to right, advancing Rocchio to third. Moments later, Will Vest<\/strong><\/a> came in to relieve Jobe. On deck was Fry, who plated Rocchio with a sacrifice bunt to the first-base side of the mound. (Editor’s Note: It was scored as a sacrifice despite Fry being safe at first, since Jobe tried to retire Rocchio at home.)<\/em><\/p>\n The Tigers scored one more in the bottom of the ninth with Emmanuel Clase<\/a><\/strong> on the mound for the Guardians. Justyn-Henry Malloy<\/a><\/strong> led off with a double to left. He moved to third on a groundout to second by Parker Meadows<\/a><\/strong>. Jace Jung<\/a><\/strong>, younger brother of Texas Rangers<\/a> infielder Josh Jung<\/a><\/strong>, plated Malloy by grounding out to second.<\/p>\n Coming into this game, the Guardians were on the ropes. The home runs by Ramirez and Fry paved the way for the victory, but they also found other ways to score. Fry drove in the insurance run with his squeeze bunt in the ninth. Their bullpen also did a nice job, holding the Tigers to two runs across five innings.<\/p>\n The homer by McKinstry in the bottom of the fifth hurt the Guardians, as did the RBI base hit by Perez in the sixth.<\/p>\n Guardians starter Tanner Bibee took a no-decision on Thursday evening. He pitched well, giving up two earned runs. Bibee walked two and struck out three. Gaddis’ performance earned him the win after pitching 1 2\/3 innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out three. His record now sits at 1\u20130 in the postseason with an ERA of zero.<\/p>\n Clase notched his first save of the postseason after pitching 1 2\/3 innings to shut the door on the Tigers. He allowed one earned run on one hit, striking out two.<\/p>\n Tigers starter Reese Olson tossed four innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. He also walked one and struck out four. After waving bye to the homer by Fry, Brieske took his first blown save-loss of the postseason. He was only able to record one out on the evening. Brieske’s postseason record now sits at 0\u20131 with an ERA of 1.59.<\/p>\n After the game, Vogt discussed what he was thinking moments after the final out was made. “Wow. Such a great baseball game,” he said. “I feel like every game this series has been a good baseball game, and for our guys to score first, they come back, take the lead, we come back, back and forth, back and forth. And just tremendous job by our bullpen, guys off the bench, defense. It was a well-played baseball game on both sides and a lot of fun.”<\/p>\n Leading up to Fry’s at-bat against Brieske, he was 0-for-3 against him in this series. After the game, he discussed his confidence level in that instance. “I didn’t know that stat,”, he said. “I knew I struck out against him, but I didn’t know it was 0-3 punch. That’s really good. No, I was just trying to get a pitch to hit, and luckily fought off some pitches with two strikes and was able to barrel something up.”<\/p>\n Fry also discussed how the decision to bunt in the ninth came about. He said, “Yeah. Vogt kind of came up to me and was like, hey, how confident are you in getting the bunt down? And I told him I wasn’t a very good hitter in high school, so I’m pretty confident; I had to bunt a lot. He goes, all right. Just keep an eye on Rougy for signs. And then right before I went up, he said, go ahead and do it first pitch, and luckily I got the run in.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nGuardians Attack Early<\/h4>\n
Pinch-Hit History<\/h4>\n
What Went Right for the Guardians<\/h4>\n
What Went Wrong for the Guardians<\/h4>\n
Bibee Goes Four<\/h4>\n
Risky Brieske<\/h4>\n
Vogt’s Postgame Comments<\/h4>\n
Fry’s Postgame Comments<\/h4>\n
Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>