Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Cleveland Guardians put up five runs in the eighth inning to beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and force game three in their Major League Baseball playoff series on Wednesday, as San Diego stayed alive with a 3-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Facing elimination after dropping game one of their best-of-three American League wild card series, the Guardians broke open a 1-1 game in the eighth.
Brayan Rocchio ignited the surge with a 379-foot go-ahead home run to right field off rookie pitcher Troy Melton. Back-to-back doubles from Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann pushed Cleveland’s lead to 3-1, and with two outs in the inning, catcher Bo Naylor belted a three-run homer. “Never quitting,” Naylor said of the key to finally getting the offense going. “We’ve been talking about it a lot, just continuing to stay aggressive, trying to get our swings off and make something happen. That inning we popped off, which is awesome,” added Naylor.
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The Tigers were left to regret missed chances. They stranded 15 runners on base and were just 1-for-15 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Cleveland will host the deciding game three on Thursday, when the Cubs host the Padres in a winner-take-all game in their National League series.
In Chicago, Manny Machado’s monster two-run homer off Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga in the fifth inning was the big difference-maker for the Padres, giving them a 3-0 lead they wouldn’t surrender. Machado teed off on the first pitch he saw from Imanaga, a splitter over the plate, sending it into Wrigley Field’s left-field bleachers. Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease pitched three-plus shut-out innings, and relief pitcher Mason Miller dazzled again. After striking out three in his lone inning in San Diego’s game one defeat, he struck out five of six batters he faced — including retiring Carson Kelly with a 104.5 mph fastball.
In Wednesday’s later games, the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers tried to complete a two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds after winning game one at Dodger Stadium 10-5. The New York Yankees, who fell to the Dodgers in last year’s World Series, were fighting to stay alive at Yankee Stadium after dropping game one of their series to the Boston Red Sox.
© 2024 AFP
