Guardians Score Five Runs In The Eighth Inning To Tie Series.

With Cleveland’s historic comeback season facing elimination on Wednesday afternoon, the Guardians had a tremendous home crowd behind them on a perfect day for baseball. Tanner Bibee would take the mound for Cleveland skipper Steven Vogt in this crucial game two of the American League Wild Card Series.

After walking the first two hitters back-to-back, Bibee settled in nicely by striking out the next three batters. This jolt of momentum carried over to the bottom half of the inning when George Valera would smash a 411-foot homer to center field, giving the Guardians a 1-0 lead after one inning of play.

The Tigers tied the game in the top of the 4th when Javier Báez hit an RBI single to right, tying the game at one. What was important to remember here was the throw-out play that Cleveland challenged; the call was overturned, which saved a run and prevented Detroit from taking the lead. Making his MLB debut, Chase DeLauter made an impressive throw to José Ramírez at third, in which Detroit’s Dillon Dingler would get tagged out, sparing a run for the Guardians.

Tanner Bibee exited the game in the 5th inning, going 4.2 innings, giving up an earned run and collecting 6 strikeouts. The Guardians' bullpen took on the burden of holding the Tigers to the one run. Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin would provide Cleveland with huge relief as they both got the team out of jams to hold the game at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning.

For the past two days, the Guardians really struggled to mount any kind of offensive attack against the Detroit Tigers. Then the flood gates opened. Bryan Rocchio crushed a solo home run to right field, breaking the tie and giving the home team the lead at 2-1. After the electrifying play by Rocchio, Daniel Schneeman would deliver a much-needed insurance run off an RBI double to center, increasing the lead to 3-1. With the 26,000 Guardians faithful screaming and shouting as their team would finally put up some offense, Bo Naylor hammered a three-run bomb to right off Troy Melton, sending the Guardians fans into an absolute frenzy at Progressive Field, now leading 6-1.

Cleveland closer Cade Smith had the task of closing out the game and tying the series at one apiece. Even though he gave up a few hits, Steven Vogt would trot out to the mound for a pep talk, giving his closer all the confidence to end this game. That’s exactly what happened; the Guardians took game two and defeated the Detroit Tigers in dramatic fashion 6-1. With the series now tied at a game apiece, the winner-take-all game three will take place Thursday at Progressive Field. The time is still TBD, with ESPN slated to televise the game.