CLEVELAND, Ohio — In a move that had many scratching their heads early Tuesday, the Cleveland Guardians added Chase DeLauter to their wild card series roster despite the prospect having never played above Triple-A. When his name appeared in the starting lineup for Game 2 against Detroit – an elimination game no less – the decision appeared even bolder.
What followed was a baptism by fire that perfectly encapsulates the Guardians’ 2025 season: initial disaster, followed by resilience, and ultimately, redemption.
Standing in center field for a tricky 1:08 p.m. start with challenging sun conditions, DeLauter’s major league debut quickly turned nightmarish when Gleyber Torres sent a fly ball his way in the first inning.
“Imagine how DeLauter felt in his first major league game. The second at-bat of the game Gleyber Torres sends a fly ball his way. That’s enough to buckle anybody’s knees,” said Joe Noga, cleveland.com Guardians beat reporter on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
The rookie’s reaction revealed his nerves as he struggled to track the ball. “He was dancing under it. You could tell he lost it in the sun. And he picked it up really late coming out of the sun. It clanked off his glove,” described Paul Hoynes, longtime cleveland.com reporter.
The moment could have defined DeLauter’s debut for all the wrong reasons. Instead, it set the stage for an impressive bounce-back.
After the miscue, starting pitcher Tanner Bibee showed immediate support, striking out three straight Tigers to escape the inning before putting his arm around the rookie. The gesture spoke volumes about the team’s culture – no finger-pointing, just collective resilience.
DeLauter’s redemption arrived in the fourth inning when a pivotal defensive play changed the game’s trajectory. With the Tigers threatening to take the lead with the bases loaded, DeLauter unleashed a defensive gem that saved a crucial run.
“Riley Green was on third. He scores. Dylan Dingler comes around third base and comes across the plate, but Zach McKinstry tries to go first to third and DeLauter comes up throwing a missile to Jose Ramirez. Ramirez applies the tag,” Noga recounted. The Guardians challenged the initial “safe” call, and the replay showed McKinstry was out before Dingler crossed the plate, erasing a run from the board.
“Huge, huge play. Momentum shift,” Hoynes emphasized. “It kept the score tied at one and the Guardians were able to prevail in the end.”
This sequence perfectly mirrors Cleveland’s season-long identity. When faced with adversity – whether it’s an impossible 15 1/2 game deficit in the division race or a rookie’s error in a must-win playoff game – the Guardians simply refuse to fold.
DeLauter’s journey from first-inning goat to fourth-inning hero exemplifies why this Cleveland team continues to defy expectations. It’s a resilience that now has them one win away from advancing in the postseason, with DeLauter having already authored his first playoff moment – one that began with disaster but ended in triumph.
For the complete breakdown of DeLauter’s rollercoaster debut and the Guardians’ dramatic Game 2 victory, listen to the full episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes in the radio booth here at Progressive Field. Long after the final out of Cleveland’s 61 victory, extending their season, staving off elimination in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series against the Tigers. Hoynsie, it’s well after the last out of the game and I’m still sitting here shaking my head in disbelief. The Guardians offense looked dead and dormant. They had two hits, they had nothing going. And then all of a sudden in the eighth inning, they come up with five big runs sparked by Brian Rocchio’s solo home run with one outs. And really the story of the day is the five run outburst that they go from this, this, this sleeping sort of slumbering offense to coming all the way back and winning and really extending their season for another day.
Paul Hoynes: They were, you know, obviously an elimination situation. George Valera gives them an early lead and then they just, the offense just goes to, I mean that, that eighth inning, you know, it was like a ticking, like a ticking time bomb almost. You know, it starts with Kaifus, you know, getting, you know, grounding out. Then you know, Rocchio is facing Troy Melton, one of the Tigers better relievers, hard thrower, throws up around 100 miles an hour. You know, Rocco had faced him a couple times at AAA when they Columbus played Toledo. So he had an idea what he, what he’s got. And Jose Ramirez gave him the word before he went to the plate, looked for the fastball and with an 02 count a Melton threw a hundred miles an hour fastball and Rokio pounded it into the right field seats seats and really touched off this crowd, touched off the bench, talked, touched off the rest of the offense. Joe, they just took off after that. It was like, you know, something that the pressure had been released and you know, Stephen Vogt in a 2 for 26 slump followed with with a double. Daniel Schneemann in another really, really long slump, doubled him home. They walked, they intentionally walked Ramirez. Manzardo makes an out and Bo Naylor, who was hitting.290 in September but had been scuffling recently, hits a three run homer. And that really puts the game away, gives them a chance to fight another day. Joe, at least one to face the, to face the Tigers in an elimination game Wednesday at some time, we’re not sure what time yet, but Wednesday at Progressive Field, really when you step back.
Joe Noga: And you look at it, Stephen Vogt has said all along, all season long, ever since he became manager of these. These guardians, he has ultimate faith in this team. Ultimate faith that they’re never out of a game. Ultimate faith that they’re never out of a season. We’ve seen that they came back from an impossible deficit, 15 and a half games to win the division. Not necessarily like they were down in this game. It was a tight score at the time, but you just felt like they were getting nothing going. And all of a sudden they come back, they rally. You can never count them out. Having ultimate faith in this team is one thing, but for seven innings there, there was no reason to believe. And then all of a sudden, Brian Rocchio steps up and he takes on again. This, this. It’s like he. He. He steps into the booth. You know, he steps into the phone booth like Superman, like Clark Kent. He comes out as playoff rocheo. And it’s. It’s a real thing. Everybody in that clubhouse believes in playoff rocheo. They saw it last year. He hits damn near.400 in the. In the postseason. He’s out there having bigot bats. And it was funny because I asked George Valera, who played a lot with Brian Ruocchio through the minors, and I said, you know, is this something that he was. He had a flair for this kind of dramatic at bats, these kind of bigot bats in the minor leagues as well. And Valera says he’s done it all his career. He says every step of the way that he’s been alongside Brian Rocchio. He’s seen him come through in situations like that. So why shouldn’t he be doing it here in the big leagues again? You’re talking about a guy who, who barely hit.225 during the. The regular season. I went down to the minor leagues. This is not a guy that you would normally have a lot of faith in at this time of the year, but for whatever reason, he’s Clark Kent in the phone booth right now.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he really does a nice job. It must be a mental preparation, Joe. Must be a mental approach. He was talking about that. He was saying, you know, someone asked him about being playoff Rokio, and he was kind of embarrassed by it. You know, he goes, I really don’t think about that. I just, you know, concentrate on the. Concentrate on doing my job. But he’s earned that nickname. And just. This is a guy that was hitting what, 165 in. In. In May when he got sent down, and he looked lost, and he was lost. He admits it. You know, this. He had. He ends up losing his starting Shortstop job to Gabriel Arias, makes a move to second base and has adapted well there and now he’s getting one big hit after another. This was a guy on Sunday who hit the, you know, homeward to a clinch. The AL Central against Texas in the 10th inning. So he hits him hard and he hits him late.
Joe Noga: Joe yeah, that’s, that’s definitely what’s happened. So playoff Rokio is a thing. It’s the first of Rocktober as we’re recording this and, and it’s appropriate in Cleveland here. But I, I think that’s a big thing. It’s a big theme here and they’re, they’re sort of riding that momentum. We have to talk about Chase De Lauder. We have to talk about how we were sitting here the other night and the Guardians had put Chase Delater, who had never played a game, above aaa. They put him on their wild card series roster. And we, we knew at that point we kind of had an idea that he was going to get to play at some point, probably not against the left hander Tarik Skubal. I was kind of surprised that he didn’t get in at bat late in the game on Tuesday. But we came to the ballpark, everybody anticipating that lineup being released and seeing his name in there in center field, no less, for a one o’ clock game in October where the, the sun is high in the, it’s, it’s about as dangerous and tricky. The wind was blowing the entire game. You and I are having trouble typing in the press box because our fingers were so, so wind blustered and cold. Imagine how Chase Delater felt in his first major league game, standing out there in center field. And Gleyber Torres, the second at bat of the game, sends a fly ball his way. That’s enough to buckle anybody’s knees.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, he was struggling. He was dancing under it. You could tell he lost it in the sun. And he picked it up really late coming out of the sun. It clanked off his Glo. And Joe I was sitting there thinking this is Ahmed Rosario all over again. But this is in a postseason elimination game. And I think, I don’t know if our listeners remember Ahmed Rosario. When Terry Francona about in 2017 or 18 or one of those years.
Joe Noga: It was, it was 2022 is the.
Paul Hoynes: Beginning of the 2022 season, right. And they wanted to move Rosario from shortstop to center field. They played a exhibition game in Mesa against the Angels and he made three errors in the first inning with Shane Bieber on the mound. And it was. It was like a circus act. You know, this guy was out of his element. And that’s the way I felt about Dilaudo when he dropped that ball. Lo and behold, he made a nice comeback, Joe.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and the comparison might be a little off just because Ahmed Rosario was an infielder going out to play outfield. Chase Delauder has been an outfielder his whole career. And you know, that’s one of the reasons why it was rule and error on the play. But it’s play he should have made. But yeah, it gave you that same sort of uncertain feeling about the defense there. But like you said, he. He comes back and what could have been a nightmare beginning turns out to be a quick redemption story. You know, Delaude comes in after that first inning, when he drops the ball, Tanner Bybee goes out and strikes out three straight Tigers hitters to get out of the inning. Puts his arm around the rookie and says, hey, you know, I got your back eventually. I know you’re going to get mine. At some point in his career. Down the line, Chase the Lauder is going to save a run from Tanner Bybey and they’ll sort of, you know, point at each other and know. So we know that that’s coming. But what Dillard went out and did after that was, was even more impressive in the. The fourth inning. The Tigers have bases loaded and. And what? Two outs. And Bybe gives up a ground ball single up the middle to Javier Baez. Dillon Dingler was on third base. He comes. I’m sorry, Dylan Dingler was on second base. Riley Green was on third. He scores. Dylan comes around third base and comes across the plate, but Zach McKinstry tries to go first to third and chase DeLauder comes up throwing just a missile to Jose Ramirez. Ramirez applies the tag and you know, what’d you see on the, on the plate. At first glance, I thought he was out immediately anyways, but he was ruled safe on the play. And the Guardians went and challenged.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, the Guardians challenged almost immediately, Joe. And they not only challenged the, well, the total play they taught challenge the play at third and the, and the second run scoring, you know, be at the plate. Didn’t take that long of a replay. The call, the safe call was overturned and our run was taken off the board for the Tigers. So huge, huge play. Momentum shift didn’t improve the offense until a long. For a long time, but it kept the score at one and the Guardians were able to, in the end, prevail.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that did have a ripple Effect on sort of the, the rest of the day offensively for the, the Tigers, you look at them, they stranded 15 runners in the game. They were 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position. You’re not going to win games that way. And that’s more along the lines of when the Guardians were going bad. What we, what we heard about their offense, we know that the, the Tigers are susceptible to struggles like that and, and the Guardians certainly took advantage of it. You’ve got to talk about the bullpen and the job that they did in relief at Tanner Bybey. Bybey goes 4 1/3 innings. He gives up five hits, run, it was an earned run. He struck out six, walked three, really sort of labored and didn’t have his best command. I mean we’ve seen him much better in his previous two or three starts in September. He came in, you know, maybe the conditions had a little bit of an effect, but you know, I can’t imagine mentally or pressure wise that he was feeling anything that would have affected him there. He just didn’t have his best stuff at that point. The bullpen comes in, Eric Zabrowski, a clean inning. Hunter Gattis, two thirds of an inning and then with what, two runners on or runners on the corners and nobody out after Gattis had hit a batter and given up a single in the, in the seventh inning, they call on Tim Heron. And we’ve talked at length about Tim Heron’s up and down season, the struggles he’s had. It was Tim Heron who comes in and strikes out back to back. Who was it? Bench hitter for Green, Jamaica, Jamai Jones and Winciel Perez. Back to back strikeouts there in the seventh. He’s, he’s pumped, he’s screaming, twirls off the mound. That’s the Tim Heron we’ve seen of late against Detroit has been the Tim Heron who was dominant in 2024 and a big part of this, this Guardians bullpen.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, the, the at bat against Perez was crucial. Went seven and seven pitches and he, he finally strikes him out. Joe Perez is falling off pitch after pitch and you know, Stephen Vogt said that was probably the turning point in the game to get out of that first and third one out jam and two of, you know, put it on Heron’s shoulders in an elimination game. You can’t ask much more if you’re a reliever and your manager puts you in that position.
Joe Noga: The bullpen really did come through. Jacob Junas with 2/3 of a scoreless inning and then Cade Smith comes in for the four out save. He gets the final out of the eighth inning when it was still tied. And I wondered if they were going to throw him in the, in the ninth. You’ve got a five run lead. You don’t necessarily need your closer in that situation. I understand Steven’s vote decision or Stephen Vogt’s decision to, you know, hey, we’ve got to lock this down. We’ve got to win this game. There’s no two ways about it. So you throw Cade Smith there, but Cade Smith winds up throwing almost 30 pitches in the, in the ninth inning to get those three outs. And now I gotta believe after pitching back to back days, he’s, he’s gotta be burned for Game 3. If not, this bullpen is, is certainly running hot at this point in the season.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, The Tigers send six guys to the plate in the ninth. And after the game, A.J. hinch, Detroit’s manager, pretty much said, you know, it would nice if we came back in that game, if we rallied. And you always think something strange can happen in the postseason, but when that didn’t happen, our main goal was to get Smith to work as hard as he can so he might not be available to.
Joe Noga: Yeah, he had a hip batter, he walked a guy. There was an error in the 9th and you know, Rocco’s error that extended. Yeah, I mean, you gotta, you gotta think about that. And really, this entire bullpen for the Guardians, they did work, they did expend so much energy to get to secure Wednesday’s win. I got to believe that it’s going to be a matter of having to piece things together if things are close late on, on Thursday. And really, you know, they put themselves in a position again where the game’s in front of the, Everything that they need is in front of them. Just like it was at the, the end of August where they, when they started on this, this hot streak and, and rallied back from 15 and a half games behind the Tigers to take the division. Everything is game three. It’s in front of them. All they got to do is go out there and hit in big situations. You’ve got Slade Sacconi on the mound. He’s going to take the ball against Jack Flaherty. Flaherty is a guy who in the past has had good games against them, but of late they’ve been able to maybe work him over a little bit, find some success at the plate against him. If the Guardians can get into Detroit bullpen at some point before the, let’s say the fifth or sixth inning, I Think they have a really good chance of winning and winning this game.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, it’s, you know, one way or the other, these two teams are going to be glad that they’re done with each other after tomorrow. I mean, they have played. They played what, 13 times in the regular season now they’ll play three times in the post season. They played each other in five games last year in the alts. They just keep running into each other. So far, it’s worked out. In Cleveland’s favorite this year, including the postseason. They’re 9 and 6 against the Tigers, and Flaherty is going to be. Flaherty. Saccony is going to be an interesting matchup. You know, they both came into the press room today. It’s such an awkward situation. You know, you’re talking about a start that may never happen. You know, if you. If the Tigers sweep, if they win today. But he’s, you know, Flaherty isn’t pitching, and if the Guardians lose, Ciccone isn’t pitching. You know, Ciccone is always cerebral, you know, intelligent, you know, took a deep dive into what it means to be in Cleveland, to how they’ve helped him when it comes to pitching, and he basically said he went through a complete overhaul, right?
Joe Noga: Yeah, he said everything is different. He was asked how different a pitcher are you from your time in Arizona before you were traded to. To the beginning of this season. He gave all all sorts of credit to Carl Willis, to Joe Torres, to Brad Goldberg and everyone on the. The pitching group in there. And, and really, I think Slade Zaccone appreciates the opportunity that this franchise gave him by. By bringing him in and making him a starter and saying, look, you’re not going to be in the bullpen. You’re. You’re going to be a starter. And, and we believe in you in that regard, and it’s really paid off. He has at times looked brilliant on the mound. He also, since the time he made his debut this season in that stretch, he’s led the American League in home runs allowed. So there’s. There’s good and bad in there. We’ve seen him really good. We’ve seen him really low, giving up bunches of home runs. If, if he gives up bunches of home runs on Thursday, the Guardians are going to have their season end, and it’s not going to be pretty.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, and. And this. We’re talking about a guy that has exceeded, well, be gone well beyond his innings limit, and he’s still been effective, and it tells you how hard he’s worked on, you know, his conditioning and his pitches and limiting his pitch, you know, pounding the strike zone and, you know, not wasting pitches. And you just hope that he has. He has another good one in his right arm for Wednesday because they need it. They need their starter to go perhaps into the fifth inning. But, you know, as we saw today, Vote is going to have the quick hook. There’s no. It’s all hands on deck tomorrow. It’s the, you know, win or go home. It’s an elimination game. And I don’t think if the starter gets in trouble, he’s not waiting.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And that means that a guy like Joey Cantillo should prepare tonight and prepare himself mentally and. And when he gets to the park on. On Thursday, prepare like he’s going to pitch and pitch an extended amount of time because it could be the third inning, it could be the fourth inning. If it’s. If it’s any earlier than that, then, you know, things are really dire. But they are going to need length out of Joey Cantillo coming out of the bullpen just because of what they had to sort of lay out there on the line to get through Wednesday’s game. But they got contributions up and down, you know, the order today, and they got a big effort out of the bullpen. When Stephen Voats says, you know, everybody plays, everybody contributes. We need everybody to contribute. This is what he was talking about. This is the kind of game Exactly. That he’s talking about. And they were able to pull that off again. All that’s left to say is go out there and play. Only we. We don’t yet know what time that’s going to be. A lot will be determined by the game that’s currently going on, as we’re recording in. In New York with love, one o’ clock starts for playoff games, because we’re wrapped up by well before the evening begins. And, you know, we can. We can go home and relax a little bit, but not a lot of fans enjoy that. The. The ballpark. It wasn’t a sellout. It was, what, 26?
Paul Hoynes: 26?
Joe Noga: Yeah, 26,600 some at the park, but they made it sound like 36.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, they were into it. They were. This was a big, good crowd.
Joe Noga: Took a little while to get.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I mean, when you don’t hit and you don’t score, there’s not much to cheer about. But they were into the bullpen. They. I mean, this is a good crowd.
Joe Noga: This is.
Paul Hoynes: This is postseason Cleveland.
Joe Noga: All right, we’ll. We’ll be back one way or another. One more time from the the Press Box this week to give you another Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast after Thursday’s game, and we’ll check in with you then.
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