The Cleveland Guardians defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-3 on Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. The game was initially to be played Saturday evening, but was rescheduled because of a poor weather forecast. With the victory, the Guardians won the best out of five American League Divisional Series three games to two. Cleveland will now face the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York starting on Monday.
Guardians win with a grand slam
Cleveland’s big hit on Saturday in the deciding game was a grand slam by center fielder Lane Thomas of Knoxville, Tennessee. The four-run home run came in the bottom of the fifth inning and broke a 1-1 tie. Thomas’s hit was 396 feet to left center field and came off of Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal, who is the dominant favourite to win the American League Cy Young Award this season.
Thomas scored left fielder Steven Kwan of Los Gatos, California, designated hitter David Fry of Irving, Texas and third baseman Jose Ramirez of Bani, Dominican Republic. Kwan and Fry singled, while Ramirez was hit by a pitch. When Ramirez was hit by a pitch, he tied the game at one, as Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez scored. Gimenez began the inning with a single to left field.
For Thomas, he had five runs batted in. He had a RBI single that scored Thomas in the seventh inning. Thomas, meanwhile, had a memorable ALDS. He batted .316 with two hone runs and nine runs batted in.
What other Guardians hitters had meaningful games?
Kwan led Cleveland with three hits, and was one of two Guardians players to score two runs. The other was Gimenez.
Battle of two best teams in the American League
The Yankees had the best record in the American League this season at 94 wins and 68 losses. The Guardians had the second best record in the American League at 92 wins and 69 losses.
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