RECAP: Thomas’ Tank Fuels Guardians Victory over Tigers in Game One, 7-0

Just 10 more measly wins...

Are there any doubters left regarding the Lane Thomas trade?

Across six appearances this season, Tyler Holton had the number of the Cleveland Guardians. In 12.1 innings, Holton didn’t allow a run, striking out nine.

But that was a the regular season.

Success for the Guardians began the same way it did for much of the season: with Steven Kwan. The All-Star left fielder saw two pitches from Tyler Holton, taking an inside sinker and nearly beginning this team’s playoff run with a leadoff home run. Instead, it stung off the top of the wall, allowing Kwan to settle in with a blistered double. David Fry, hitting second, drew an eight pitch walk, setting the table for José Ramírez to do what he does best.

While ruled an error on Zach McKinstry, this set the tone for the rest of the inning and also the game. Good guys lead, 1-0.

With the infield in, Josh Naylor followed up José’s run scoring ball-in-play with one of his own, poking a single between the shallow infielders on the right side, driving in Fry, pushing the lead to 2-0. A pitching change ensued. After just three batters, Tyler Holton was pulled without recording an out.

In comes righty Reese Olson, on to face the right-handed Lane Thomas who historically hits lefties much better than righties, but to hell with matchups, said Thomas.

On the very first pitch thrown, moments after Jeff Franceour stated on the broadcast that this could not have started any worse for the Tigers, Thomas blasted off, taking a cement mixer slider and planting it 10 rows deep in the bleachers. Before AJ Hinch and the Tigers had a chance to breathe, Guardians chaos had delivered a blow they couldn’t come back from, knocking the wind out of their sails from the jump. 5-0 Guards.

Tanner Bibee definitely fought through some control issues with his fastball early on, but he got out of a first inning jam with no damage done, and cruised through the vast majority of his 4.2 innings pitched on the day. Bibee threw just 76 pitches on the day, fanning six Tigers in his 4.2 innings before being lifted in favor of Cade Smith to face the heart of Detroit’s order.

As soon as Cade Smith entered, if the game wasn’t over already, the proverbial fat lady was singing. Smith faced four Tigers, and not one of them stood a chance. Throwing just 18 pitches, the rookie struck out all four batters faced, using all three pitches in his repertoire to make light work of the best Detroit had to offer.

Later in the game, Cleveland was threatening again in the bottom half of the sixth. Jhonkensy Noel drew a seven pitch walk against Ty Madden, but after a Bo Naylor fly-out and Brayan Rocchio strikeout, the leadoff pass felt wasted, but that was not the case. Steven Kwan also drew a seven pitch walk, setting the table for David Fry. Normally, this would be a situation where Fry is lifted in favor of Kyle Manzardo who has crushed right-handed pitching since being called back up in September, but with the larger lead, Vogt left Fry in, and it paid off.

Fry roped a double down the left field line, scoring both Noel and Kwan, putting the Guards’ lead at 7-0 where it would remain for the rest of the game.

Despite having the large lead for the entire game, Vogt still deployed his historically good bullpen as if the scoreboard said 1-0. The aforementioned Cade Smith covered four outs across the end of the fifth and the sixth, and Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis covered the seventh and eighth innings before turning it over to Emmanuel Clase in the ninth.

The Guardians cruised to a 7-0 victory, and a city as a collective let out a breath at the exact same time.

With the ALDS schedule being the way it is, Vogt was able to turn to his big guns to shorten an already out-of-hand game, and with a day off on Sunday, a fully rested bullpen will be ready to do it all over again on Monday.

As for the offense, it was a sign of what needs to happen in order for this team to succeed in October: draw walks, steal bags, create chaos on the base paths, and hit some bombs. It won’t come so easily in Game Two, however, as the soon-to-be Cy Young Winner in Tarik Skubal toes the rubber for the Tigers.

For Cleveland, it will be the former Tiger Matthew Boyd who takes the bump. Detroit was among the worst lineups in baseball against left-handed pitching, so the anticipation of Game Two being much closer to a pitcher’s duel is as advertised.