CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Indians were down to their last strike.
Trailing 4-2, with two men on in the bottom of the ninth inning, Rene Rivera stepped to the plate.
Because who else, right?
Rivera subsequently ripped an 0-2 slider to deep left field that bounced off the 19-foot-high wall above left fielder Jake Fraley’s head that scored Josh Naylor and Bobby Bradley.
The comeback was complete, and boy did they overcome a lot, specifically, the bullpen. Manager Terry Francona had a message for them just five batters into the game.
“I actually called down to the bullpen in the first and I told Brian (Sweeney), ‘put on your seatbelts, we’re going to figure it out.’ Not really sure I believed that” Francona said.
The unbelievable part was how the Indians secured a 5-4 walk-off win on a throwing error by the pitcher.
Harold Ramirez hit a routine come backer in the top of the 10th inning to Paul Sewald with the bases loaded. Sewald’s throw to get the force out at home was high and wide, sending Tom Murphy scrambling and scoring Cesar Hernandez.
“Sometimes days like this turn out to be even better, because we used everybody. Everybody feels a part of it,” Francona continued. “We got contributions late from guys that weren’t even in the lineup. It ends up being a really good day.
It didn’t start that way. Two pitches into Triston McKenzie’s return to the Indians’ rotation, something was clearly wrong.
His second offering to Seattle’s J.P. Crawford sailed over catcher Rene Rivera’s head.
It only got worse from there.
“I felt comfortable coming into the game. I just felt like I let the game speed up on me,” McKenzie said. “I got overwhelmed. It was the first time being (there) with lots and lots of fans. I can’t let it happen.”
McKenzie’s first seven pitches were balls, he walked the first two batters he faced and left the game after throwing just 2/3 of an inning.
The 23-year-old right-hander looked like he might work his way out of it after issuing back-to-back walks to start the game. But after getting two outs, a pair of free passes pushed the game’s first run across the plate and officially ended McKenzie’s night.
“I felt like I did a good job trying to control my emotions, but I just kind of let the game slip away from me a little bit,” McKenzie said.
Offensively things didn’t appear to be going much better for the Indians as they were unable to solve Yusei Kikuchi, who held the Indians scoreless through seven innings of three-hit ball.
But the combination of six relievers allowed three runs over the next 8 1/3 innings, keeping the Tribe within striking distance.
“Everybody came in and kind of did their job. We’re just trying to get through the game without ruining our bullpen,” Francona said. “But because they never stretched it out it kind of gave us that chance. And every once in a while, if you keep playing, you get fortunate enough to win a game like that.”
With Kikuchi out of the game, the Indians offense began to come to life. Cesar Hernandez got the Indians on the scoreboard with a solo home run off of Kendall Graveman in the eighth.
In the ninth, Bradley Zimmer and Josh Naylor each worked a two-out walk, and Francona turned to Bobby Bradley to keep the game going, opting to pinch-hit Bradley for rookie Owen Miller.
“He was ready to hit for about two hours. He kept walking by me,” Francona said. ”He broke his bat and nobody’s going to care. He got a hit; he found a way to get a hit and we got to keep playing.”
Bradley singled to load the bases, setting the table for Rivera’s heroics.
“Honestly I just hit the ball and started running. If it hit the wall, a couple runs would score and we’d tie the game, if it goes out and it would be a walk-off,” Rivera said. “But I just put my head down and started running.”
Had it not been for the high wall in left, Rivera would’ve ended it,
Harold Ramirez’s unorthodox walk-off followed in extra innings, giving the Indians their fifth walk-off win of the season.
“We are resilient man. We battled out there. No matter who goes down, another guy will step up and do that job,” Rivera said. “Right now, we’re missing some pieces but the guys who came out here they want to play, they want to play hard. We all there playing nine hard innings. Not every day can be cute, but we go out there and battle pitch by pitch.”