CLEVELAND — Progressive Field is an open-air stadium. And yet, as Emmanuel Clase and everyone else watched Kerry Carpenter's three-run home run ball sail over the right-field wall , it was if everyone in the ballpark not wearing blue and orange had the air knocked out of them.
It couldn't happen. It had never happened before, and it surely could never happen in the future.
Except, it did.
After being virtually untouchable all season, and after never giving up a three-run home run in his entire career, Clase served up a slider that Carpenter drilled for a 423-foot, momentum-swinging home run in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Nobody had hit a home run off his slider since the 2022 season.
Clase had given up only five earned runs all season. Then it was three on one swing, and the Guardians and Tigers will take the series to Detroit tied 1-1 .
Here are the top takeaways from Guardians-Tigers ALDS Game 2 (in addition to Tarik Skubal proving that he's a dominant force).
Emmanuel Clase is human after all, gives up Kerry Carpenter home run
Clase was as close to automatic as any reliever had been in baseball for 20 years . And then, in his biggest moment of 2024 to date, a slider that was supposed to be in the dirt wasn't, and Carpenter absolutely crushed it.
On a 2-2 count, Clase and catcher Bo Naylor wanted the next slider — the third in a row — to be in the dirt. If Carpenter makes contact, it's probably weak. If he misses, the inning is over. If he doesn't swing, it would still be 3-2.
But the pitch never free-fell like it was meant to. Clase has thrown his slider less and less this season, instead relying on his "Mariano-like" cutter more than in previous years. Clase tried to throw three consecutive sliders in an effort to be unexpected related to those trends, but the target was missed.
"Emmanuel has been lock-down all year," said manager Stephen Vogt. "He's been nearly perfect … and he's human, too. These things are going to happen, and it's unfortunate, the timing of when it did, but at the same time he's going to have the ball in the ninth again. This is the best closer in the game for a reason, and they just happened to get him tonight."
The Tigers dugout went berserk. After a back-and-forth pitchers' duel, they had finally landed the first punch, and it came in the most surprising moment possible.
"To do it off of him is special because he's literally the best closer in the game for a reason," Carpenter said. "He's tough. But I like battling those guys."
The Tigers tugged on Superman's cape, and this time, they got away with it.
The Guardians defense is a real factor in this ALDS
The Guardians playing sound defense is a key element to "Guards Ball." It has been all year, and it nearly saved them Monday afternoon in Game 2.
With it looking like the first team to score was going to win — which ended up being the case — the Guardians twice made incredible plays to support the pitching staff and keep it scoreless.
First, Jhonkensy Noel threw a dart from 200 feet away to take away a double from Justyn-Henry Malloy. That would have put the go-ahead run on second base, but it instead let Cade Smith enter the game with a clean slate.
It was the kind of field-spin-and-throw move Steven Kwan was perfected in left field.
"He's the best left fielder in the whole league," Noel said of Kwan. "I mean, for a guy who's going to win his third Gold Glove, you would try to replicate as much as you can."
Kwan proved Noel right a few innings later.
In the eighth, Kwan unquestionably saved at least one run with a diving catch to take away a hit from Wenceel Perez. What appeared to be an RBI single all the way off the bat turned into a fully extended highlight-reel grab.
"I saw him hit it to the wrong guy," said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. "I mean, that guy … He's a gifted player, and we just hit it to the wrong guy."
Twice, the Guardians defense bailed out the pitching staff to keep it deadlocked. Carpenter had to hit one where nobody could get to it to break the tie.
The Guardians finished the 2024 season second in the majors with 84 Defensive Runs Saved. Only the Toronto Blue Jays had more. If Clase actually throws that slider in the dirt as intended, it's possible those two defensive plays are the top story from Game 2.
"That's what we've done all year," catcher Austin Hedges said. "We play the game the right way. We have a lot of quality at-bats. We play defense. We pitch. We're really an all-around team."
Even in the loss, the Guardians showed their defense has a chance to be a major impact in Games 3, 4 and possibly 5. And while playing sound defense is, of course, important in any setting, it's especially crucial to the Guardians' style of play.
Matthew Boyd showed up in his big moment
If Matthew Boyd pitching 4⅔ scoreless innings for the Guardians in 2024 after coming back from Tommy John surgery was on your bingo card, you are now the president of bingo.
That was beyond any reasonable best-case scenario for the Guardians to watch Boyd find the pitch he needed to end innings over and over, keeping pace with Tarik Skubal, who is likely going to win the Cy Young unanimously.
The off days Sunday and Tuesday meant the Guardians had free will to go to the bullpen as early as they'd like in Monday's game. Boyd even pitching into the fifth inning was more than what they needed from him in almost any other setting.
"He was pumped and, man, he should be," Vogt said of the interaction between him and Boyd when the Guardians went to the bullpen. "He should be really proud of himself to come in, two-thirds of the way through the year, give us a ton of quality starts in the regular season and then give us that outing today. He's done a phenomenal job for us."
Considering the circumstances and the stage, it was a tremendous effort from a veteran pitching against his long-time team.
And if the series ends up going to a Game 5, in which the Guardians will again face Skubal, Boyd might be asked, again, to try to match the Cy Young favorite step-for-step — at least for four or five innings.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians-Tigers ALDS Game 2 in MLB playoffs shows closer Emmanuel Clase is human
Local News
Comments / 0