Guardians vow to bounce back after mistakes plague G1 loss

CLEVELAND -- As José Ramírez stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday, a group of fans seated down the first-base line at Progressive Field held up a sign. It read, “YOU’RE IN BELIEVELAND.”

All month long, the Guardians have continued to give their fan base reason to believe, as they clawed their way back from the brink to improbably clinch their second consecutive division title. And for a moment on Tuesday, it looked like they were going to add another magical moment to their roller-coaster season during Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series.

Ramírez reached on an infield single off Will Vest and advanced to third on the play thanks to a Javier Báez throwing error. Guards Ball was in full effect. The ballpark was rocking and ready to celebrate a come-from-behind victory.

But Ramírez was retired trying to score on a comebacker off the bat of Kyle Manzardo. It was one of several uncharacteristic moments by the Guardians that proved costly in their 2-1 loss to the Tigers in Game 1.

“If that ball's two feet either way, he scores,” manager Stephen Vogt said of Ramírez. “It just happened to go right back to Vest.”

In the history of best-of-three Wild Card Series, Game 1 winners have gone on to win the series 18 of 20 times (90%), including 16 sweeps. Teams that have won Game 1 on the road have gone 11-2 in those series, including nine sweeps.

The only two comebacks by teams that lost Game 1 at home both came in 2020 (A’s vs. White Sox and Padres vs. Cardinals). Cleveland must bounce back quickly or its season will be over. Game 2 is on Wednesday.

“Our backs have been against the wall for three months. What's one more day?” Vogt said of the Guardians, who overcame a season-high 15 1/2-game deficit to overtake the Tigers and win the AL Central.

Cleveland knew it faced a tough test against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who recorded an 0.64 ERA in 28 innings over four regular-season starts against the Guardians. He earned a tip of the cap after he struck out 14 and allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings. So, too, did Gavin Williams, who allowed two runs (zero earned) on five hits and one walk over six-plus innings, with eight strikeouts.

But every little moment counts in the postseason, and offensive issues aside, the Guardians’ mistakes occurred in areas they typically excel -- in the field and on the bases. And it cost them a chance to capitalize on Williams’ great start.

Right fielder Johnathan Rodríguez made a first-inning fielding error when he bobbled a Kerry Carpenter single in the gap. Carpenter then scored when Spencer Torkelson followed with a single of his own.

Rodríguez said he got sped up; his focus was on not allowing Carpenter to advance.

“I feel it was more a mental error,” Rodríguez said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero.

In the seventh, first baseman Jhonkensy Noel dove to knock down a Wenceel Peréz line drive. It deflected to second baseman Brayan Rocchio, whose throw back to Noel at first was in time -- but Noel’s foot missed the bag. He was charged with an error on the missed catch.

“It was a heck of a frickin' play to knock that ball down,” Vogt said. “That stuff happens. … You make mistakes. You hope it doesn't happen in a game like this, but it's going to happen.”

In the ninth, Ramírez reached when Torkelson did not corral a low throw by Báez. The ball kicked off Ramírez’s foot and trickled down the line into foul territory, and he immediately turned for second base. His helmet flew off as he charged toward third, as a crowd of 26,186 roared and jumped up and down, seemingly willing him around the bases.

Third baseman Zach McKinstry held Ramírez close to the third-base bag when Manzardo stepped to the plate. Ramírez was running on contact and took off when Manzardo hit an 0-2 chopper to the mound. He slammed the brakes when Vest fielded the ball.

Vest did not throw home, instead running toward Ramírez to tag him out. The hearts of Cleveland fans dropped after C.J. Kayfus then popped out to Báez to end the game.

“We play aggressive. We always do,” Vogt said. “I wouldn't play that any other way. You just hope the runner on third, less [with] than two [outs], we get a ball in the outfield. We weren't able to do it.”

As Vogt noted, the Guardians’ backs were against the wall for half the regular season. They were counted out time and time again, whether it be during their 10-game losing streak (June 26-July 6) or a 1-9 stretch from Aug. 15-25. They embraced a one-day-at-a-time mentality and went on a historic run to reach the postseason.

On Tuesday, they ran into a force, yet for all that went wrong, they still had a golden opportunity to tie things up. If there is any team that is equipped to move on quickly from a loss, even one with as much at stake as this one, it’s Cleveland.

“We're going to bounce back. We've done it all year,” Vogt said. “We love having our backs against the wall. We're going to come out ready and hungry tomorrow and ready to take one.”