DETROIT — Payback is a common theme during the regular season. If a player performs poorly against a certain team, he’s almost guaranteed the opportunity somewhere within the confines of the season to get another crack at them.
It is not so common in the postseason. The series can be short and quirky. The off days disrupt the regular rotations of pitchers and position players.
Sometimes, though, things fall just right.
Thursday night they did just that for Jose Ramirez and Emmanuel Clase as the Guardians faced elimination against Detroit in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Comerica Park.
Ramirez has hit the Tigers his whole career. He’s a .304 lifetime hitter with 33 homers and 122 RBI against them. During the regular season this year, he hit .347 (17 for 49) with five homers and 12 RBI against Detroit.
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch calls him a beast and has gone out of his way to make things difficult for Ramirez in the ALDS. He’s intentionally walked him twice.
Ramirez started Thursday in a 1 for 9 skid through the first three games of the series. With elimination in the wind, it was now or never time, but Ramirez left runners on first and second with a harmless fly ball to left field in the first inning. In the third, he grounded out and Ramirez’s body language showed his frustration.
His next at-bat came with two-out in the fifth. Lefty Tyler Holton had retired Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo to start the inning and bring Ramirez to the plate. Holton threw a changeup that missed away. His second pitch was a changeup as well, but it hung in the middle of the strike zone and Ramirez pulled it over the fence in left field for a 2-1 lead.
If a home run can be described as angry, that looked like an angry home run.
Ramirez isn’t much for bat flips. A long time ago he did one against the Twins that almost started a brawl and former manager Terry Francona had a word with him. Thursday night, however, Ramirez turned toward the Guardians’ dugout and slammed his bat into the ground.
“It was a moment,” said Ramirez, through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “I really wanted to do something to help us win. The little bat flip was to kind of let all the energy go because I just really wanted to help the guys.”
The energy from the bat flip pulsed into the Guardians’ dugout.
“That had to feel so good for him,” said manager Stephen Vogt, “It energized our dugout like you wouldn’t believe.”
The 5-4 win sent the ALDS back to Cleveland for winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday at Progressive Field.
“We were excited to get a chance to play this game, and now we’re even more excited to get back home and play our best game Saturday,” said Ramirez. “I have confidence in my guys.”
Clase has been the best closer in the big leagues for the last four years. He recorded 47 saves in 50 xhances during the regular season to set a franchise record.
In Game 1, a 7-0 win by the Guardians, he pitched a scoreless ninth inning just to stay sharp. In Game 2, the pressure increased.
Vogt brought Clase into a 0-0 game with two on and two in the eighth inning. It was just the second he was being asked to get more than three outs this season.
Clase escaped the eighth thanks to a diving catch in left field by Steven Kwan against Wenceel Perez. In the ninth, he retired the first two men he faced, but Jake Rogers and Trey Sweeney, the bottom two hitters in the lineup, singled to put runners on the corners.
Kerry Carpenter, the next batter, hit a three-run homer off Clase’s 2-2 slider. It was the first three-run homer Clase has allowed in his career, and only the third homer he’s allowed this year.
Thursday night Vogt once again summoned Clase in the eighth. The Guardians had a 4-3 lead thanks to David Fry’s two-run homer in the seventh. But the Tigers had two on and one out in the eighth when Clase relieved Tim Herrin.
He retired Zach McKinstry and Rogers to end the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Cleveland extended its lead to 5-3 with a perfect squeeze bunt by Fry to score Brayan Rocchio from third base. It proved to be the biggest run of the game.
Clase allowed a double to pinch-hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy to start the ninth. Malloy came around to score on a couple of ground ball outs. Clase ended it by striking out Matt Vierling on a 101.5 mph cut fastball for his first save of the postseason.
“A lot of strong emotions, getting back to this game, I was really excited to get to the mound,” said Clase, through Rivero. “Especially getting the trust back from the manager to get me in that role and that responsibility. So I was really excited to be there and be comfortable for my team.”
Vogt has never doubted Clase for a moment this year. Why would he? You don’t question a pitcher like that, you build him a statue.
“Emmanuel, he had the blip the other day, and he’s going to get way too much negative publicity for that because that was one blip on the radar of a historic season that he’s put together,” said Vogt. “Tonight was another part of that story.
“The thing I love about Emmanuel is he doesn’t care if they score. He just wants to get the win. He doesn’t care when he pitches, he just wants to pitch. He’s done that for us all year. Up eight, tied, down. It doesn’t matter. He just wants to pitch, and he’s been outstanding all year.”
