The Cleveland Guardians will fight for the American League after beating the Detroit Tigers 7-3 this Saturday in the fifth and final game, with a Grand Slam by Lane Thomas that was key in the attack and a superb performance by the Dominican Emmanuel Clase on the mound.
Starting this Monday, the Yankees are waiting for them in New York. The Guardians confirm their good moment after a year out of the postseason and obtaining the ticket to the American League final for the first time since 2016.
In addition, Cleveland ends a streak of eight consecutive losses in life-or-death games with this match. They owe a lot to their pitchers, the Guardians put a total of up to eight players on the mound, and eliminated 16 rival batters.
Pitchers mark the first innings
During the first four innings it was a pitchers’ game, the mound imposed the pace of the game and ensured that neither team scored a single run. They showed great effectiveness, both the duo formed by Matthew Boyd and Cade Smith for the locals, and Tarik Skubal for the visiting side.
Kerry Carpenter was the one in charge of opening the scoring, Detroit went ahead with his single that propelled Trey Sweeney’s score. But far from empowering his team, it provoked an impressive reaction from Cleveland.
Lane Thomas sets up Progressive Field
Dominican José Ramírez was hit by the ball and added the first local run. It was just the previous step to the climax of the afternoon.
Right after, Lane Thomas scored an impressive ‘grand slam’ which marked Skubal’s first hesitation, being punished with everything, and bringing his fans to their feet in the stands, among whom was a luxury spectator, Donovan Mitchell, the Cleveland Cavaliers player, who was doing an Instagram live just when the ‘grand slam’ occurred.
Cleveland took the lead with those five runs in record time. But he saw Detroit close the gap with a Jake Rogers single in the sixth and a Colt Keith double in the seventh.
Thomas drove in another run in the seventh, specifically scoring Steven Kwan who was waiting at third base.
Class closes the game
Emmanuel Clase complemented with his pitches and decided that he would not play any more for the remainder of the afternoon, giving an exhibition in the eighth, striking out Carpenter to close out that penultimate at-bat for the Tigers.
Tyler Holton also pitched very well for Detroit in such an important moment and eliminated rivals, but he received the response from Venezuelan Andrés Giménez, with a double that put him in an unbeatable situation to score again. And he did it as soon as his teammate Brayan Rocchio gave him a boost to make it 7-3.
Class assumed responsibility again and the visiting batters fell one by one like flies, until the final close that gave way to the celebration in style.
The Guardians will not have much time to celebrate, their first game against the Yankees will be next Monday at Yankee Stadium to open the fight for the American League title.
Cleveland / EFE
#Grand #Slam #Thomas #Class #game #put #Cleveland #American #League #fight
