DeLauter's latest clutch moment felt 'like a dream come true'

CLEVELAND -- Progressive Field echoed each time Chase DeLauter stepped to the plate on Friday, as the crowd sang along to his walk-up song, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

“Hearing that from the first inning on, it's chills every at-bat,” DeLauter said. “It's something a lot of players kind of look forward to, like, ‘Hey, man, is that walk-up going to catch on?’ I love that the crowd’s real involved in that here.”

The Cleveland faithful had to wait over a week to serenade DeLauter this season as the Guardians opened their campaign with a seven-game road trip. In their home opener on Friday, the 24-year-old made that wait well worth the while.

DeLauter blasted a two-run home run in the seventh inning Friday, as part of a 3-for-4 day that keyed the Guardians’ 4-1 win over the Cubs.

DeLauter has now hit five homers over his first seven career regular-season games, which is tied for second most in MLB history since at least 1900 with Rece Hinds (2024) and Mark Quinn (1999). Only Trevor Story (seven, in 2016) hit more.

“It's incredible what he's doing,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Like we talked about back in the postseason, this kid's comfortable. He's not big-eyed, and he's doing a phenomenal job for us. It's a really fun start for him this year.”

DeLauter received a crash course in playing at Progressive Field (and in the Majors) this past fall, when he made his MLB debut and started for the Guardians in Games 2 and 3 of the AL Wild Card Series. Four hours before Friday’s game, he noted how that experience helped him as he prepared for his first big league season over the winter.

“Getting thrown into that situation's probably one of the most pressure situations you can be thrown into,” DeLauter said Friday morning. “But doing that kind of helped me just relax a lot coming out after the spring."

DeLauter’s start to this season is the proof in the pudding. The only thing that has truly slowed him down is a left foot contusion; he fouled a pitch off himself in the first inning of the Guardians’ 4-1 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. Friday marked his first game back after he took a planned off-day on Wednesday.

DeLauter delivered early and often. He acknowledged he felt a bit rushed in his plate appearance in the first inning, when he grounded out to second base, but caught his breath and locked things in. DeLauter singled his next time up, in the fourth. In the fifth, DeLauter drew the Guardians into a 1-1 tie with a game-tying RBI single to left field off lefty Hoby Milner.

Gabriel Arias was thrown at home plate on the play, attempting to give Cleveland the lead. Arias bounced back by hitting a game-tying solo homer off Hunter Harvey in the bottom of the seventh. Two batters later, Steven Kwan walked, which set the table for DeLauter.

Harvey threw DeLauter four consecutive fastballs to fall behind 3-1. When he came back with a fifth straight, with a 96.6 mph offering up and inside, DeLauter was ready. He hit it 109 mph and a Statcast-projected 402 feet.

As Progressive Field erupted, DeLauter took five steps to watch the blast before entering a home-run trot. He, as well as everyone in the ballpark, knew he got all of it.

“When they come off like that, sometimes you just know,” DeLauter said.

DeLauter ran into a bit of trouble after he touched home plate. Listed at 6-foot-3, he accidentally shoulder checked Kwan (who’s listed at 5-foot-8) as they attempted to embrace in celebration.

“That one was my fault,” DeLauter said. “He went in for a high-five. I went in for a hug. Bad combination there. We'll get it figured out for sure.”

They figure to have plenty of chances to master their celebrations; DeLauter has hit second behind Kwan in each of his seven starts this season. And for his part, DeLauter figures to relish each moment, after an up-and-down road in the Minors in which he dealt with a number of injury setbacks on the way to the Majors.

It’s no surprise how DeLauter described a moment such as Friday -- delivering in the clutch in front of a packed and energetic crowd, singing his tune.

“[It feels] like a dream come true,” DeLauter said. “It really does. It’s something you kind of get lost in, definitely because of a day to day basis. Sometimes you kind of forget why you're here. … Beautiful day, packed crowd, what is there not to be happy about?”