Guardians: Shortstop Brayan Rocchio's errors loom large in series

CLEVELAND — Rookie shortstop Brayan Rocchio was a second too fast in trying to turn a double play ... and it ended up costing Cleveland dearly. With the game tied in the 10th inning, Alex Verdugo hit a grounder up the middle that was played brilliantly by Andres Gimenez, who tossed it to Rocchio for what would have been at least one out and possibly two. But Rocchio, in his haste to throw to first to complete the double play, took his eye off the ball and squeezed his glove too early, causing it to pop out and extend the inning for New York. While Cleveland eventually got to two outs, the error allowed Juan Soto to bat and punish the Guardians with a three-run home run that ultimately clinched Game 5 and the American League Championship Series with a 5-2 win at Progressive Field on Saturday night. "Yeah, I mean at that time you're trying to help your bullpen and try to turn the double play and that's what we decided to do," Rocchio said. "Unfortunately, it didn't happen." Rocchio's bat was a welcomed surprise for the Guardians. He turned it on offensively in the playoffs after hitting .206 in the regular season. He went 11-for-33 with two doubles and a home run in 10 playoff games, including a 5-for-17 stretch in the ALCS. He also scored three runs in the series. "You can say it's a good postseason, but for me most importantly, it's a good learning experience," Rocchio said. "So many things both in the offense and defense and it's kind of difficult to put everything towards now, but a lot things on both sides of the game." Rocchio was named an American League Gold Glove finalist along with Anthony Volpe of the Yankees and Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City. He finished his rookie season fourth at the position with 10 defensive runs saved. But in the ALCS, his defense cost Cleveland in critical moments. Rocchio's three errors each directly led to runs, and in two cases what were ultimately the winning runs. In Game 2, Rocchio dropped a routine pop up that allowed the Yankees to take a 1-0 lead in the first, one that was eventually stretched to 3-0 in the second. While the Guardians cut the deficit to 3-2, they went on to lose 6-3 and never led. In Game 4, he mishandled a ground ball in the ninth inning that allowed New York to take a 7-6 lead, one that it extended to 8-6 later in the inning. That proved to be enough when Cleveland couldn't mount another last-inning rally. His third error again led to a big inning for the Yankees, as Soto took advantage of the extra out to put Cleveland in a three-run hole, one the Guardians couldn't recover from in their half of the 10th. "I'm not going to say it's disappointing," Rocchio said. "It's just a learning experience and you take it for what it is and try to, knowing that next year we're going to come back and try to win it all." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.