CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians wasted no time jumping in front of the Tigers by scoring five times in the first inning of Game 1 in their American League Division Series on Saturday at Progressive Field.
Cleveland sent nine batters to the plate, with the first six reaching base safely against Detroit pitchers Tyler Holton and Reese Olson. Steven Kwan swatted a leadoff double off the wall in right field and scored on a hard ground ball to third by José Ramírez that kicked off the glove of Tigers third baseman Zach McKinstry for an error.
Josh Naylor followed with an RBI single that scored David Fry, who had drawn a walk against Holton after Kwan’s double.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch summoned Olson from the Detroit bullpen, but Lane Thomas greeted the right-hander with a 394-foot blast to the bleachers in left on the first pitch he saw. The three-run home run was Thomas’ first career postseason homer, and it gave the Guardians a 5-0 lead.
Andrés Giménez legged out an infield single before Olson retired Jhonkensy Noel, Bo Naylor and Brayan Rocchio to end the inning.
According to OPTAstats, the Guardians are the first American League team ever to score five runs before recording an out to start a playoff game.
Arizona matched the feat for an NL team on Oct. 7 last season in an 11-2 rout of the Dodgers. The last time Cleveland scored 5 straight to start a regular season game was Sept. 15 of 2018 against Detroit. Cleveland ended up winning that game, 15-0.
That day, Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley slugged first-inning home runs and Cleveland clinched its 10th AL Central Division title.
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