Kwan delivers within the clutch in 11-inning walk-off win

CLEVELAND — Over the previous week, issues have began to really feel somewhat acquainted to Steven Kwan.

In the eleventh inning Saturday evening, Kwan confirmed all of Cleveland why that was by slashing a walk-off sacrifice fly to right-center subject to present the Guardians a 7-6 win over the Rays at Progressive Field to assist Cleveland safe its fourth straight win and hold its postseason heartbeat alive.

Kwan’s sacrifice fly put the cap on a wild inning that’s develop into the norm in video games between the Guardians and Rays. Here’s a breakdown of what occurred in a lead-up to the walk-off.

Bottom of ninth inning
With the Guardians down 6-5, Will Brennan and Oscar Gonzalez recorded hits off Rays nearer Pete Fairbanks, which arrange Kwan with runners at first and second with two outs. Then, as if so as to add one other layer to an already convoluted state of affairs, Kwan was referred to as for a pitch-timer strike by dwelling plate umpire CB Bucknor whereas José Tena was coming into the sport as a pinch-runner for Gonzalez after Myles Straw got here to pinch-run for Brennan.

“To be honest, I didn’t really understand [why I got the violation],” Kwan said. “Myles Straw was calling for time at second so I did the same and then [Bucknor] told me that I had gone past eight seconds [remaining on the pitch timer].”

That didn’t faze Kwan, who lined the primary pitch he noticed from Fairbanks into left subject to tie the sport at 5.

“I don’t swing at the first pitch a lot of times, but when you’re down 0-1, it kind of simplifies things because you can’t really take one there,” Kwan stated.

Top of the tenth inning
When the groups took the sphere the subsequent inning, Andrés Giménez confirmed why he earned a Gold Glove final season when he and Bo Naylor pulled off a do-or-die play to throw out Luke Raley at dwelling and hold the sport tied.

On the play, Giménez fielded a 91.5 mph chopper and fired an 88.7 mph seed straight to Bo Naylor’s glove, the place he was in a position to slap a tag down on Raley moments earlier than he touched the plate.

“That was such a good play,” supervisor Terry Francona stated. “Giménez was going as fast as he could and still had the wherewithal to throw the ball in the only place he could to get the out.”

Bottom of the eleventh inning
After the Rays recorded a run within the prime of the eleventh inning with a sacrifice fly, they referred to as reliever Chris Devenski, who was making his debut with the membership after being acquired earlier within the week. He opened the inning with a strikeout of Gabriel Arias however hit a wall with Naylor, who fouled off 4 pitches and took a ball within the dust to maintain the plate look alive.

“I was just trying to think about as little as possible there,” Naylor stated.

After Devenski’s tenth pitch of the plate look sailed excessive and tight, Naylor walked, establishing Tena, who entered the sport with solely eight MLB at-bats below his belt, with runners on first and third with one out after Straw stole third throughout Naylor’s at-bat.

For some rookies, such a second could be an excessive amount of. But not for Tena, who spent all of Naylor’s at-bat watching Devenski pitch together with going over his video on a pill.

Prior to Naylor’s at-bat, Tena had been pulled from the on-deck circle for David Fry, however Francona opted to ship him again as much as the plate after Naylor’s stroll as a result of his presence on first meant that the suitable aspect of the infield could be open. Tena dumped a primary pitch changeup into that vacated gap with the tying run.

“I was looking for a pitch up and I was able to get one and make contact,” Tena stated via interpreter Agustin Rivero.

In the mayhem of the second, Naylor was in a position to dash to 3rd base, which ended up being simply as essential because the run scoring, as Kwan introduced him dwelling a pitch in a while his sac fly.

“We have an uphill battle, but keep playing until they make you go home,” Francona stated.