2024 MLB Playoffs: Guardians' bats are hot, Tigers' pitching chaos backfires in one-sided ALDS Game 1

CLEVELAND — It was a perfect afternoon for postseason baseball at Progressive Field, and Guardians fans had waited long enough.

Cleveland had earned a coveted first-round bye and skipped the harrowing wild-card round, but also five extra days so fans could look forward to the unparalleled feeling of cheering on their team in the month of October. A sizable crowd of Tigers fans were scattered throughout the venue on Saturday, eager to see if their team could stay fit after their away win against the Astros.

On this day, however, it was all about the home team. Any fears that Cleveland might get off to a slow start because of the extended layoff – which was even longer than expected after the rained-out Game 162 against Houston – were dispelled before the Tigers could even record an out in the Guardians' 7-0 win in 1 of those ALDS.

Steven Kwan drilled opener Tyler Holton's second pitch off the right field wall for a leadoff double that came within inches of a leadoff home run, and the tone was set. David Fry, Cleveland's unlikely All-Star with a .430 OBP against southpaws this season, drew a walk. Jose Ramirez hacked a hard ground ball that third baseman Zack McKinstry couldn't handle and it trickled into the left field corner, allowing Kwan to score the game's first run.

Josh Naylor followed with a single through the right side to score Fry and put runners on the corners as Lane Thomas came up. Thomas' track record in punishing left-handed pitching – .880 career OPS against righties, compared to a .680 mark against righties – spelled the end of the day for the left-handed Holton. Starting right-handed was Reese Olson, the youngest Tiger to make his postseason debut.

It took an entire pitch for Thomas to deliver exactly what the Guardians were looking for when they acquired him at the trade deadline: someone capable of doing damage after Ramirez and Naylor.

A hard hit by Thomas after a first-pitch slider by Olson sent the ball flying toward the left-field bleachers and eventually landing a projected 394 feet from home plate. Seemingly in no time it was 5-0 for the Guardians. The damage is certainly done.

Cleveland's five-run blitz in the first inning tied the MLB record for runs scored at the start of a postseason game before an out was recorded, joining last year's D-backs in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. But Arizona's barrage occurred on the street outside a stunned – and again, silent – Dodger Stadium. Cleveland's near-unprecedented offensive performance came in front of a packed home crowd of 33,548 eager to explode before the Guardians even picked up a bat.

Ramirez and Naylor's big hits have become a common sight for Cleveland audiences. Thomas is a much fresher face, however, having been acquired from the Nationals at the deadline to add length to the Guardians' somewhat top-heavy roster. Thomas initially struggled with Cleveland, hitting .143/.239/.195 with zero home runs in 27 games in August. But an .855 OPS in September boosted his confidence down the stretch and prepared him to make an impact for Cleveland once the postseason began.

“I heard this is a great place to play in the postseason,” Thomas said Friday before Game 1. “So I’m excited to play in front of the fans that have supported us all year.”

Thomas' criticism of the Cleveland audience after he experienced it?

“It was electrifying,” he said at the podium after the game. “I think it was everything I thought it would be and more. It was really cool to see the first four guys make incredible attacks and then come through for them.”

For Detroit, a pitching strategy that rarely faltered during a remarkable run in the postseason and beyond the Astros backfired in spectacular fashion on Saturday. Holton's initial difficulties would have been difficult to overcome regardless of who replaced him, but the decision to throw Olson into this particular fire – runners in the corners with no one out and the crowd in the crowd near maximum – was strange .

Despite what has rightly been said about the number of Tigers pitchers who can play virtually any role, Olson felt like a slightly different case. He hadn't pitched since Sept. 26, he hadn't made a relief appearance this season and he'd never been involved in a game as a big leaguer with runners on base.

Manager AJ Hinch then explained his decision to move to Olson at this point.

“We told him early in the day that it was going to come down to the Lane Thomas bat,” he said. “And if you look at the next two Lane Thomas shots” – Thomas hit with a swing in the second and flew in the fifth against Olson in the first – “that was a little more that we came up with.” I mean , sometimes her guy hits our guy.

“Reese was ready and there were no excuses, and we did this with virtually our entire roster. When it doesn't work, you're surprised. But we can't… you know, we can't blame anyone for anything except a good swing on the field that changed the game or tied the game for them and a hit that we didn't recover from.”

Olson may have been ready, but so was Thomas: “I had competed against him earlier in the season before I got here. And I thought that in that situation I was either going to get a fastball, kind of coming in off the plate, or something soft that I could hit in the air and at least get that run from third. So I chose one or the other and found what I was looking for and really got it going.”

Olson hung a slider right down the middle, Thomas made him pay, and Game 1 felt like a conclusion from the start.

Guardians starter Tanner Bibee had gained a sizable lead early on, attacking the zone with all of his throws – including an intriguing new offering in his recently reintroduced sinker – and preventing Detroit from having any semblance of a rally to get back into the game. After throwing just nine sinkers this season (all in his last two starts), Bibee threw the pitch 10 times in Game 1.

After the game, he told Yahoo Sports that in recent weeks he decided to bring back the sinker he threw in college to give him another weapon to induce weak contact. And that was on display multiple times Saturday: The sinker got Colt Keith to fly out softly to end a tumultuous 27-pitch first inning and elicited a ground ball from Spencer Torkelson for a double play in the fourth.

Bibee exited a little earlier than expected with just 76 pitches and two outs in the fifth game, but since there was an off day between Games 1 and 2, manager Stephen Vogt had the luxury of being extremely aggressive with his bullpen, even a sizable one Head start. With Kerry Carpenter, Detroit's most dangerous hitter against right-handed pitchers, batting with a runner on base, Vogt handed the ball off to rookie right-hander Cade Smith to end the modest threat. Smith – who is considered the fWAR leader among them all He was the starting reliever in the regular season, had a strong performance in the AL Rookie of the Year race – striking out Carpenter in three pitches and then adding three more punchouts in his postseason debut.

From there the guards rolled on. Fry added two more runs with a double in the bottom of the sixth before Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase recorded the remaining nine outs without much trouble. The 7-0 win for Cleveland was as comfortable and comfortable a win as you'll see at this time of year. Layoff or not, it would be difficult to write a better start to this series for the Guardians.

“From what we saw, we will get five days of rest. We can recover. “We can switch off for a few days,” said Vogt after the game. “And we trained them hard.” To the players’ credit, they put a lot of effort into our training. In some simulated games, they were competitive with each other and it showed. We were ready to swing the bat and it looked like we didn’t take five days off.”

For now, Detroit can take solace in knowing it will be allowed to hand the ball to left guard Tarik Skubal in Game 2 on Monday. Taking on Skubal will be an undeniable challenge for Cleveland – and an opportunity to use the momentum of a stunning Game 1 win to help level the playing field against such a difficult opponent on the mound. The stage is set for the 27-year-old left-hander to emerge as a hero once again and try to regain the good spirits of a Tigers team that needs a stronger concerted effort if it wants to turn this series back in its favor.