CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Cleveland’s comeback kids were at it again on Friday night.
Down three runs to the Twins in the 7th inning, the Guardiac Kids were up to their old tricks.
“It's exciting,” Francona said. “The guys work all winter and all spring and play all year and you have the right to play the game that is this exciting. That's great, man. Embrace it.”
Embrace it? The Guardians seem to be relishing it.
Ernie Clement, pinch running for Josh Naylor, scored the go-ahead run from second base on a wild pitch by Minnesota Closer Jhoan Duran to complete a 4-3 comeback win over the Twins, at Progressive Field, the Guardians seventh last at-bat win in ten victories over Minnesota.
“As I’m coming off, Naylor stopped me and was like ‘hey, be ready for a dirt ball,” Clement said. I was just running until Sarby (third base coach Mike Sarbaugh) stopped me and he never did, so I just kept going.”
Naylor had a hunch that Duran might bury another curve ball, he just didn’t think it would make it all the way to the backstop.
“He started two batters with an off-speed pitch that inning, so odds are he’s probably going to throw it again,” Naylor said. “He wasn’t really throwing it for a strike consistently, he was throwing it for you to chase it in a way.”
The Guardians have done a lot of growing up over the last six months and it’s paying dividends now down the stretch run. If Cleveland owns the youngest roster in baseball, they haven’t played like it since the calendar has flipped to September.
“It’s as cool as it gets. It’s got that playoff atmosphere.
The energy that the crowd brought, it kept us in it because we were down early,” Clement said.
Triston McKenzie really made one mistake all night, hanging a slider to Jake Cave in the 4th inning. He smoked it 412 feet to right-center for a two-run home run. McKenzie allowed an RBI double to Jose Miranda that got the Twins offense started in the third but was largely kept Minnesota hitters off balance all night.
He tossed 7 innings, allowing 7 hits and 3 earned in his second outing against the Twins in less than a week.
“I think what you have to do, especially when teams have seen you a lot, is pound the strike zone and let them know that you're not going to be throwing balls,” McKenzie said. “They're definitely got to try and wait you out or trying to try to get you out a little sooner. But you can't let that be kind of taken for granted and just kind of groove stuff over the plate.”
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober was pulled after five scoreless innings. The Twins have a game plan of limiting their starting pitchers from going through the lineup three times. It may have backfired on Friday night as Ober was cruising and the Guardians had managed just two hits up until the 7th inning.
“With this team, we’re never out of a game,” Clement said. “Everybody on the bench knows that. When you have a crowd like that, it just helps more.”
The Guardians have made a habit this season of running the bases like their hair is on fire. Friday night that ignited the rally in the 7th inning. Andres Gimenez hit a slow grounder to second baseman Nick Gordon and his throw pulled Jose Miranda off the bag at first. Even with a good throw, Gimenez is likely safe.
Owen Miller followed with a single and Myles Straw knocked in Gimenez to start the comeback. Two batters later Amed Rosario singled to center, and the game was square at 3.
Duran uncorked his wild pitch in the 8th allowing Clement to score. He rounded third and headed for home without hesitation, scoring with a head-first slide to give the Guardians the lead.
“He had a great read, and he was in a great position and he found a way to get home and that’s what we needed to win,” Naylor said.
Not only did the win over the Twins clinch a tiebreaker with Minnesota, but Cleveland gained a full game on both Chicago and Minnesota with Detroit’s walk-off win over the White Sox. A group of roughly a half-dozen players watched Detroit top Minnesota in extra-innings in the clubhouse and erupted in cheers when Ryan Kreidler scored on a sacrifice fly in the 10th.
All thanks to Clement’s run, the first scored on a wild pitch from second base in the regular season since the 70s.
“It’s cool to score a big run for the boys,” Clement said.