Guardians rally for win to pull into first-place tie with Tigers

CLEVELAND — The Guardians have been chasing the Tigers since April 22. Tuesday night at Progressive Field, they finally caught them. Continuing its miraculous late-season playoff push, Cleveland stunned reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and Detroit 5-2 in the opener of a pivotal three-game series that included a big crowd under a playoff atmosphere. The win — the Guardians' 11th in their last 12 games and 16th in their last 18 — vaulted them into a first-place tie with Detroit in the Central Division. Cleveland is technically atop the division after clinching the season series 7-4 with two games to play. The Guardians trailed the Tigers by 15½ games on July 8. "You kind of have to believe, right? Maybe be a little delusional in a long season like that," Steven Kwan said of his team's unimaginable comeback. "I mean, anything's possible. You're never completely out of it and that's the beauty of baseball." There was also a loss when David Fry was hit in the face by a pitch and left the game in a medical cart during his team's decisive three-run sixth inning. "He stayed conscious the whole time. (There's) definitely some injuries there," manager Stephen Vogt said of Fry, who is expected to remain overnight at Cleveland Clinic's main campus after being transferred from Lutheran Medical Center. "It was straight to the face. So we're all thinking about David and his family right now. Obviously we're glad he is OK, but obviously it's a really scary moment." After being shut down by Skubal for five innings, the Guardians scored the go-ahead runs in the sixth without putting a ball into the outfield. Kwan led off with a bunt single and Angel Martinez followed with a bunt that Skubal fielded and threw between his legs over the head of first baseman Spencer Torkelson for an error. Jose Ramirez's infield single scored Kwan before a wild pitch plated Martinez with the tying run. Fry squared to bunt and was hit by Skubal, immediately dropping to the ground and covering his face. Skubal, who was visibly shaken, balked Ramirez to third and allowed the Guardians to go up 3-2 on Gabriel Arias' grounder to first. "His first five (innings) were pretty dominant, just putting it where he wanted," Kwan said of Skubal. "So, just try to mix it up a little bit, kind of get the defense moving around, just trying to get him off his normal cadence and just try to create the chaos." "Obviously we got a little bit of help with the error and the wild pitch, but Tarik Skubal is the best pitcher in the game and we're trying to find ways to put pressure on him," Vogt said. "That's why we work on our baserunning. That's why we work on our bunting, just all that whole inning was the things that we talk about, we preach, we work on, and the guys executed. Outstanding." Cleveland scored two more times in the seventh on pinch hitter Daniel Schneemann's two-out single. Right-hander Gavin Williams continued the rotation's dominance, allowing two runs over six innings while matching a career high with 12 strikeouts. Cleveland tied a club record for a nine-inning game with 19 strikeouts. It was the 18th straight game — a franchise record — that a member of the starting staff allowed two runs or fewer. "Gavin was absolutely masterful, couldn't ask for anything more," Vogt said. "They put a lot of pressure on him. He wiggled his way out." Manager A.J. Hinch's decision to move Skubal up and pitch on short rest paid off handsomely for a while. The left-hander walked two over the first two innings, but shut out Cleveland over the first four innings on one infield single from Martinez two batters into the bottom of the first. Skubal spoke about Fry after the game. "I've already reached out to him," he said. "I just want to make sure he's all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way. "I look forward to hopefully at some point (Tuesday) or (Wednesday) morning getting a text from him and making sure he's all good because there's things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game." The Guardians drew 29,571 fans and they were loud. "I know it's a school night and work night, so it was really cool to see everybody out there," Kwan said. "Cleveland really showed up, so that was really special I think for all of us." Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.