CLEVELAND, Ohio — Major League Baseball has announced a scoring change from Saturday’s American League Division Series opener that saw the Guardians rout the Tigers, 7-0.
Credit José Ramírez with a double and an RBI in his first-inning at-bat that resulted in Steven Kwan scoring the game’s first run. Ramírez smashed a hard ground ball that kicked off the glove of Tigers third baseman Zach McKinstry and rolled down the left field line. The ball left Ramírez’s bat at 93.3 mph, according to Statcast.
McKinstry was originally charged with an error, and the run to Detroit starter Tyler Holton was unearned. After the Guardians appealed, the ruling was changed to a double, Ramírez’s 13th career postseason RBI and his 10th extra-base hit in 33 playoff games.
The play sparked a five-run first inning capped by Lane Thomas’ 3-run home run as the Guardians went on to take a 1-0 series lead.
McKinstry blamed himself after the game, saying he tried to make a play and didn’t, and the Tigers ended up losing the game because of it. He also insinuated that the weird hop might have had something to do with the Progressive Field grounds crew
“They watered the field before the game, but they didn’t water it for the game and it took a weird hop,” McKinstry said. “Ramirez hit a ball down the line and it took a bad hop when I tried to block it. Sometimes they bounce in our favor and sometimes they don’t.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said everything “snowballed” from there.
“Not recording an out and just sort of stopping, or at least limiting some of the momentum is key,” Hinch said. “But the in-between hop is a do-or-die play, and that’s the die part.”
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