CLEVELAND — For playoff teams who earn a bye into the division series, there’s always a bit of trepidation they’ll exhibit some rust in their first postseason game, but the Cleveland Guardians weren’t having any of it on Saturday.
After a five-day layoff, the Guardians ambushed the Detroit Tigers, scoring five times in the first inning and winning 7-0 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five series.
“It was definitely a topic for a lot of the coaches, not to go in and just go through the motions,” left fielder Steven Kwan said of their week of practice. “Try to be intentional. It worked out today.”
Kwan got the ball rolling for the home team, missing a home run by inches to lead off the game while settling for a double. He nearly batted again in the inning as Cleveland blew up the Tigers’ strategy of using an opener. Starter Tyler Holton didn’t record an out, and the man who replaced him — righty Reese Olson — was promptly greeted with a first-pitch blast off the bat of Lane Thomas.
According to ESPN Stats and Information, the Guardians’ five runs tied the most in the first inning of a playoff game in franchise history.
“To the players’ credit, they put a ton of effort into our workouts,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “They got competitive with each other in some simulated games, and it showed. We came out ready to swing the bat, and we looked like we didn’t take five days off.”
The run support benefited starter Tanner Bibee, who went 4 2/3 scoreless innings and walked off the mound to a standing ovation. He was followed by four relievers who didn’t give up a hit the rest of the game, including rookie Cade Smith, who struck out all four batters he faced. They all threw well, but it was a lot easier to pitch with that early lead.
Designated hitter David Fry was asked how the team stayed ready for this moment.
“We had live at-bats all week, hitting off the machine, just different things that we could do to kind of stay ready, stay on top of velocity and that kind of thing,” he said.
Fry added a two-run double in the sixth inning, giving the Guardians’ bullpen even more cushion. It was all part of a seven-hit, five-walk attack spread out among eight of their starters. Cleveland simply produced good at-bats up and down its lineup.
“Living and dying by the home run is hard sometimes,” Kwan said. “Being able to manufacture runs in different ways was cool.”
The Guardians saw 153 pitches to the Tigers’ 124, but with a day off between games, Detroit should have its bullpen fully available for Game 2. The Tigers will start their ace, Tarik Skubal — who usually doesn’t need much help from the bullpen — while Cleveland will hand the ball to veteran Matthew Boyd.
“I think what Matthew has brought is just consistency,” Vogt said. “He’s been the same every time out. He’s attacked the zone. He’s got really good stuff, able to keep them off balance and really stabilized our rotation when we got him back healthy.”
Boyd returned from Tommy John surgery in August after signing with the team in June, making eight starts in the regular season while compiling a 2.72 ERA. Now he’ll be on the mound for a playoff game.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I’d know I would be here,” Boyd said. “But this is what you work for. … Our coaches did a great job this week getting us ready.”
So it isn’t just the hitters who benefited from the week of practice, according to Boyd and others. Pitchers were intentional about their work as well. It showed up in a big way in Game 1, both on the mound and at the plate. Cleveland has early control of the series.
“They worked really hard over the course of this week to stay ready,” Vogt said, “and for us to be able to come out and jump on them, it was just a huge day for all of our guys.”