CLEVELAND — You couldn't ask for a better opening act as a Cleveland fan.
Playing for the first time in six days thanks to a first-round bye in the MLB playoffs, some worried the Guardians might enter Game 1 of the American League Division Series a little rusty. If so, it didn't take them long to shake it off, scoring five runs against the AL Central rival Detroit Tigers before even making an out.
After Tanner Bibee worked out of trouble in the top of the first, Steven Kwan led off the bottom of the inning with a double off the right field wall, with David Fry following with a hard-earned walk against Detroit "opener" Tyler Holton. The crowd then rose to its feet for superstar José Ramírez, and while the MVP candidate didn't exactly known the cover off the ball, his ground ball to third ate up Zach McKinstry, plating Kwan for the game's first run.
Josh Naylor followed with a clean base hit that brought home Fry, chasing Holton from the mound after only four batters. With "bulk man" Reese Olson now pitching, it was Lane Thomas who delivered the big blow: a towering three-run homer to the left field bleachers that sent the fireworks a-flying and gave the Guards a 5-0 lead.
"It was electric," Thomas, who was playing in his first postseason game, said of the sound of the crowd when he hit the ball. "It was everything I had thought and more. It was really cool."
You can listen to Tom Hamilton's jubilant radio call of the home run below!
The scorching blast is indicative of how Thomas has endeared himself to the Cleveland faithful. Acquired from the Washington Nationals as a premiere piece at the trade deadline, the 29-year-old outfielder struggled mightily out of the game. However, he has since emerged as one of the game's hottest hitters, with seven homers and 20 RBIs in the month of September.
He swung at the first pitch he saw from Olson, a slider right down the middle.
"I thought in that situation that I was either going to get a fastball kind of in off the plate or something soft that I could hit in the air and at least score that run from third," Thomas told reporters. "So I kind of picked one or the other and got the one I was looking for."
The Guardians sent all nine hitters to the plate in the first, providing the initial spark in what turned out to be a 7-0 win.
"It was huge to get those runs on the board and kind of get some momentum and give Tanner some breathing room to go out and pitch well," manager Stephen Vogt said. "We try to cause chaos on offense, and our guys did that today."
