CLEVELAND — It took four excruciating hours and 57 agonizing minutes to squeeze one run out of Game 2 of this wild-card playoff series, but don’t just go by the numbers when digesting Cleveland’s 1-0, 15-inning clincher over Tampa Bay in front of 34,971 wrung-out, jubilant fans on a wild Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Even though the Guardians and Rays had played the longest scoreless tie by innings in postseason history before Oscar Gonzalez smashed a homer against former Cleveland ace Corey Kluber to send Tampa Bay to sudden death and Cleveland to New York to lead off the bottom of the 15th, this was about far more than the combined 39 strikeouts, 432 total pitches and one measly run.
“The way the fans reacted,” Gonzalez marveled afterward, soaked in champagne.
“I saw guys trying to do too much,” Tampa Bay Manager Kevin Cash said.
“You’re trying to have fun,” Cleveland Manager Terry Francona said. “But it’s agony at the same time. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
The youngest team in the game will fly to New York on Sunday to begin preparations for Game 1 of a division series against the Yankees on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. How the Guardians arrived at this moment after two games over 29 hours from lunchtime Friday through dinnertime Saturday is a study in resilience, stick-to-itiveness and a wonderful collection of arms.
In its two-game sweep, Cleveland outscored Tampa Bay by a cumulative total of 3-1 — over 24 innings. The entirety of the Rays’ offense was Jose Siri’s solo home run in the sixth inning Friday. It was the only mistake Guardians starter Shane Bieber made. It was more of the same dominance by Cleveland’s Game 2 starter Triston McKenzie and relievers James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan, Emmanuel Clase, Nick Sandlin, Eli Morgan, Enyel De Los Santos and Sam Hentges on Saturday.
“Today was more than anyone could have asked for,” said Cleveland’s pitching coach, Carl Willis, who acknowledged he was thinking back to Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, when Minnesota beat Atlanta, 1-0, in 10 innings, as the afternoon wore on. Willis was a reliever in that Twins bullpen then.
As the drama built, it looked as if the sixth inning would haunt the Guardians, who loaded the bases with none out and failed to score in their best opportunity. Cash called for Pete Fairbanks, who usually closes, to start the inning because it was obvious that run prevention was key in this series. But Fairbanks walked the first two batters he faced, clearly wasn’t right and was hooked. Later, the Rays announced he was suffering from right index finger numbness.
The entire stadium nearly went numb in the 12th when, with two out and runners at the corners, Tampa Bay’s Manuel Margot rifled a bouncer down the third base line. José Ramírez made an incredible play to field it in foul territory. Then, nearly from the third-base coach’s box, he fired across the diamond to first baseman Josh Naylor, whose stretch nearly belied imagination. The Rays asked for a review, claiming Naylor pulled his foot from the bag, but he didn’t. Inning over.
It was one of two acrobatic, game-changing plays with Ramírez and Naylor on the business ends. And when Gonzalez blasted the game-winning homer, it produced this twist: All three runs Cleveland scored in this series came on homers (Ramírez’s two-run homer in the sixth inning was the difference in Game 1).
This from a team that ranked 29th in the majors this year with just 127 homers. Only Detroit, with 110, hit fewer.
“It was the most fun game I’ve ever played in,” said Cleveland second baseman Andrés Giménez.
This from a guy who struck out five times in five plate appearances.
“But obviously, we won,” Giménez said, roaming around the field afterward in the middle of the celebration, taking it all in. “That’s what’s most important. A bad day doesn’t mean it’s a bad day. We won. The guys did a tremendous job.”
