Guardians: Steven Kwan and Brayan Rocchio driving offense during postseason

CLEVELAND — Once Steven Kwan gets revved up, the Guardians offense usually shifts into high gear. And if Brayan Rocchio keeps joining him, Cleveland may find yet another. Cleveland's leadoff hitter has been outstanding in the postseason with 11 hits so far, punctuated by his third straight three-hit game that helped the Guardians to a 7-3 win against Detroit in their winner-take-all Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Saturday at Progressive Field. "He is the engine," Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. "I love a lot of their players and a lot of what they did, but he is an engine that creates a lot of pressure that you've got to deal with behind him, whoever they put in the two hole, and then here comes Jose Ramirez and Lane Thomas, I will remember for a long time, and Josh Naylor and (Andres) Gimenez at the bottom now. They made contact, and that type of style of player and type of mindset is ignited by Steven Kwan. He had an incredible series." The Guardians advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016 and will head to New York to face the Yankees in Game 1 on Monday. New York is the last team to eliminate Cleveland from the playoffs, doing so in five games during the 2022 ALDS. Kwan had a standout series in 2022. Despite Cleveland losing to New York, he recorded a hit in all five games, going 9-for-21 with a double, a home run, two RBIs and a walk. He had three multihit games highlighted by a three-hit outing in Game 3. He picked up right where he left off against Detroit, once again getting a hit in all five games, stretching his postseason hitting streak to 10 games, which ties Kenny Lofton for the franchise record. "Yeah, kind of hard to say," Kwan said of his postseason success. "Like obviously going with the plan, trying to execute the plan. Once you hit the ball you can't really control where it goes. So put some good swings on it. Saw him (Tigers ace Taril Skubak) obviously earlier, so that really helped. But, I mean, it's baseball. It's hard sometimes, and when it's good, it's good." Rocchio has been a welcome surprise offensively for the Guardians as he also had a hit in all five games from the No. 9 spot in the order. The shortstop went 2-for-4 with an RBI, providing the Guardians with an insurance run in the eighth. Rocchio's first hit led to another bases-loaded situation, but Thomas couldn't capitalize. "Roc's been one of the best shortstops if not the best shortstop in the American League all year," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "For him, he looks relaxed. He looks like he's just playing. He's not playing for numbers. He's not going out chasing hits. He's having quality at-bat after quality at-bat. And Roc has arguably been the most consistent hitter in our lineup, other than Kwan, for this postseason. And it's just been really fun to see him kind of come out of his shell." Kwan's 11 hits set a club record for a division series, and Saturday he had three hits for the third straight game, becoming just the third player in MLB history to do so, joining Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox, 2020) and Lou Brock (St. Louis, 1968). All the more impressive is that two of his three hits Saturday came off Skubal. Cleveland didn't do anything with Kwan's first hit, a grounder up the middle that ate up shortstop Trey Sweeney. But his liner into left helped the Guardians put five on the board in the fifth, punctuated by Thomas' grand slam that put Cleveland on top 5-1. He scored again in the seventh, getting a leadoff single and eventually scoring on Thomas' grounder that got past second, giving Cleveland some breathing room at 6-3. "He's got really good stuff," Kwan said of Skubal. "He's able to locate. So when he hits the spot, you can't really do anything about it, but just being able to see that over and over is super helpful. Being able to have that dialogue with other guys, too, and kind of formulate a team plan, I think all of those go into it." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.