CLEVELAND — It cannot be explained with any logic, but when you see it, there is something undeniable about what Cleveland’s clubhouse describes as “Guards Ball.”
On paper, the Guardians probably should not have beaten Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers in that fashion — but they did.
On paper, they should not have erased an in-division deficit that was, at one point, 15.5 games — but they did.
On paper, none of this should be happening in this way — but it is.
The Guardians beat Skubal, arguably the game’s most elite pitcher, with a bizarre sixth inning in which they didn’t hit a single ball out of the infield. And yet, they scored three runs to take the lead and eventually went on to win, 5-2. With that victory, the Guardians pulled even by record with the Tigers at 85-72, but Cleveland will hold the tiebreaker, giving them the advantage.
That wild sixth inning was not the only example of “Guards Ball,” but it is, now, arguably the best. The Guardians have beaten teams like this dating back to last year, but perhaps not in such an extreme way.
It included a bunt single, another bunt that led to one of the craziest errors you’ll ever see considering the circumstances, a wild pitch, a balk and a couple of perfectly placed ground balls.
If you’re the opposing team, there isn’t much left to do but shake a frustrated head, considering no hard contact was given up. If you’re the Guardians, you just shrug as another on-field celebration takes place.
As left fielder Steven Kwan said earlier this season, “That’s Guards Ball, baby.”
That inning also included a scary moment, as David Fry motioned to bunt but was hit square in the face by a 99 mph pitch. Fry was down on the ground for several minutes and then carted off the field with a towel over his face. He was taken to a local hospital, and the team will be updating his status in the days to come. Skubal was visibly upset with what happened.
Sandwiched around that frightening scene was the biggest inning of the season for both clubs to date.
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Trailing 2-0 to start the inning, Kwan reached first base via a bunt single. Angel Martinez followed with a bunt of his own, this one down the first-base line. Skubal fielded it and attempted to toss it between his legs like a center in football snapping it to the quarterback in a shotgun formation. It sailed over everyone’s head, and both runners were safe.
“Just trying to mix it up a little bit, kind of get the defense moving around,” Kwan said. “It was funny, too, me and Angel didn’t talk about back-to-back bunts. So I dropped one down, I wasn’t even ready for his, and he put a great one down. Just trying to get [Skubal] off his normal chaos and try to create some chaos.”
Jose Ramirez followed with an infield RBI single to make it 2-1. It was wasn’t hit that hard, but it ended up in the perfect spot on the left side of the infield, and Detroit didn’t have a play at first with Ramirez’s speed.
That led to the frightening moment with Fry. George Valera finished his at-bat and struck out (Fry was squaring to bunt when he was hit in the face, and therefore the pitch was technically a strike).
Possibly a bit rattled by the moment, and prior to striking out Valera, Skubal uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Martinez to score the tying run, sending a crowd that was electric all night into a frenzy.
Skubal was then called for an uncharacteristic balk, sending Ramirez to third, which then allowed a normally harmless grounder by Gabriel Arias to give the Guardians the lead — somehow. Arias’ groundout was the ball that technically traveled the furthest in the inning before hitting the ground for the first time, and it made it all of five feet.
“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,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “That’s why we work on our baserunning. That’s why we work on our bunting, had two great bunts to get us going. … That whole inning [included] the things we talk about, we preach, we work on, and the guys executed.”
For obvious reasons, the “Guards Ball” style is not often recommended. There is some added value to putting the ball in play at a high rate and forcing defenses to make plays, but relying on it can lead to some dry spells. The Guardians have seen what happens when these types of little breaks stop going their way, like when they were shut out five times during a 10-game losing streak. In baseball terms, that now feels like a lifetime ago.
Despite the lack of plausibility, it all just keeps working, at least lately.
Five games remain. The Guardians know the job is not done. But regardless of what happens the rest of the week, Cleveland has pulled off a historic-level comeback to this point, erasing a 15.5-game deficit that was still double-digits in the month of September. For all intents and purposes, and statistically to a 99-percent degree, they were buried.
“You kind of have to believe that [you can], right? Maybe be a little delusional in a long season,” Kwan said of the Guardians catching the Tigers. “Anything’s possible. You’re never completely out of it, and that’s the beauty of baseball.”
A couple of bunts? A fortunate error on a trick-play gone wrong? A perfectly-timed wild pitch? An infield single? A needed balk? Nothing hit out of the infield, but three runs scored against the game’s best pitcher in the season’s most defining moment? A 15.5-game comeback in the division during a season in which two pitchers were sidelined due to a gambling investigation, and the lineup struggled through a laundry list of offensive issues?
By baseball logic, and on paper, none of it should have happened — but it has, and it’s been done largely in the Guardians’ signature style. The sixth inning on Sept. 23 is now the shining example (or one of the most frustrating innings of the year, if you’re in the opposite dugout).
It might not work tomorrow, or the next day, or in the playoffs if they make it there. But it’s also hard to deny them the benefit of the doubt after watching that sixth inning unfold, along with the few weeks of baseball that preceded it while they surged forward in the standings.
The phrase “October to remember” is often used for playoff teams. Whether the Guardians make it there remains to be seen, and it is what happens in October that matters the most. But regardless of what happens from this point, it’d be difficult to forget this September in Cleveland.