CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – All-Star second baseman Andres Gimenez came through in the clutch when the Guardians needed him to.
Gimenez drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh with a bloop single off Tigers reliever Michael Fulmer and the Guardians got 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief from five relievers to beat the Tigers for the second straight night, 6-5, at Progressive Field.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Gimenez said.
Gimenez entered the night hitting .412 with two outs and runners in scoring position. The baseball gods smiled upon him again Friday night.
“Honestly, no,” Gimenez said when asked if he thought his blooper had a chance to fall in for a hit. “I thought it was too high.”
The Guardians rallied against a quality Tigers bullpen, despite Detroit's record, and they did it in typical Guardians style – without a home run.
“Their bullpen is really good,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “We’re in this era of baseball where there’s so many strikeouts. You know, [Gimenez] did hit his ball [hard] but he hit it. Naylor kind of reached out and got enough to get a sac fly. It’s a heck of a lot better than striking out.”
The first three hitters of the night reached and scored for the Guardians for an early 3-0 lead.
Jose Ramirez slapped an RBI single to right scoring Steven Kwan, who led off with a walk. Josh Naylor’s RBI groundout to second brought home Amed Rosario, who singled and the first career triple by Owen Miller brought home Ramirez.
With two outs in the top of the third Riley Greene hit a solo homer to right center to get the Tigers on the board and pull them within 3-1.
In the fourth Detroit exploded for four runs and ended Zach Plesac’s night.
Ramirez was charged with an error after being unable to field a ball off the bat of Tigers shortstop Javier Baez, who scored on Harold Castro’s RBI double into the right field corner, to lead off the inning. Willi Castro followed with an RBI single to score Harold Castro and tie the game with one out.
Johnathan Schoop reached on a fielder’s choice on e comebacker to Plesac, who threw to second base but the bag wasn’t covered properly and the relay over to first was too late. After Robbie Grossman singled, Greene followed with a two-run double to right to give Detroit a 5-3 lead bringing Francona out of the dugout to go to the bullpen.
“It was a little bit like last game where we have an inning where we didn’t help him and then it kind of gets away,” Francona said. “By the end of the inning he’s over 30 [pitches for the inning], and it’s like I hate taking him out but I don’t want to hurt him. It just gets to the point where you gotta make a change.”
Plesac was charged with five runs, two earned, on six hits with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
Austin Hedges answered with an RBI single to left to bring the Guardians within 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth.
Drew Hutchinson started for the Tigers and pitched five innings allowing four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks.
In the seventh the Guardians retook the lead after loading the bases with one out when Ramirez was intentionally walked with Kwan, who doubled and Myles Straw already aboard. Naylor tied the game with a sac fly to left to score Straw, who led off with a walk, before Gimenez dropped a ball into left to bring Kwan home for a 6-5 lead.
“That’s who we are – try to put pressure on the other team by getting people on base,” Gimenez said. “It was a good example of what we’re capable of doing.”
With closer Emmanuel Clase unavailable, Trevor Stephan came on in the ninth to pick up his second save. Bryan Shaw was credited with the victory by throwing two scoreless innings.
Relievers Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Shaw and Eli Morgan kept Detroit off the board for Stephan to close it out. Shaw was credited with his fourth win of the season.
“These are growing experiences for these guys,” Francona said. “Eli [Morgan] seems to be bounding back, which is great. Trevor, putting him in – that’s a couple of times we’ve done that now. It’s good for them.”
