CLEVELAND -- Over just two innings on Saturday, two-thirds of the Guardians' starting outfield and a pair of players who are crucial to Cleveland’s lineup were forced to exit against the Tigers due to injury.
Chase DeLauter and Angel Martínez both departed Saturday’s matinee at Progressive Field after taking one at-bat each. DeLauter exited immediately after he hit a single in the bottom of the first inning, while Martínez was replaced in left field by Steven Kwan entering the top of the third.
The Guardians later announced that DeLauter exited with a right rib cage contusion, stemming from a collision with the right-field wall in the first inning. Manager Stephen Vogt noted the 24-year-old was undergoing scans postgame to determine the full scope of his issue.
Martínez exited with a left foot contusion, for which X-rays came back negative. Vogt said he’ll be day to day. Both injuries preceded José Ramírez suffering a left hamate fracture. The Guardians beat the Tigers, 3-1, despite Patrick Bailey being their only remaining position player available by game’s end.
DeLauter grabbed his side as he pulled into first base following his single off Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, and Daniel Schneemann pinch-ran for him. He appeared in clear discomfort in the top of the first, when he crashed into the right-field wall hard while attempting to catch an eventual double by Gleyber Torres.
DeLauter remained hunched over on the warning track for several moments before he returned to his position. Martínez, meanwhile, fouled Skubal’s first pitch of the game off his left foot. He received attention from the Guardians’ training staff and initially remained in the game before his eventual exit an inning later.
Martínez did not look 100 percent when he ran out a ground ball to first baseman Spencer Torkelson in the first. He recently dealt with a mild left mid-foot strain, which caused him to miss the Guardians’ game against the Red Sox on May 31 after the issue forced him to exit early one game prior.
DeLauter has remained extremely durable this season, after a Minor League career that was marked by several injury setbacks. Saturday marked his 65th game of the campaign, which is his career high at any professional level. His previous high was 57 games in 2023, when he finished the season with Double-A Akron.
DeLauter played 42 regular-season games in the Minors last year, when he missed extended time recovering from March core muscle surgery and a July surgery to repair a right hamate fracture. As he has remained durable this year, he has established himself as a key cog within the Guardians’ lineup.
Fifty-six of DeLauter’s 61 starts have come in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots of the lineup. He entered Saturday with a .259/.335/.406 slash line, 12 doubles, seven home runs and 34 RBIs with 28 walks and 36 strikeouts.
Martínez, likewise, has been key to the Guardians offensively. He entered Saturday slashing .240/.277/.444 with 11 home runs, which leads the team and is tied for his career high.
If the Guardians need to call up an outfielder, the Triple-A Columbus roster includes Petey Halpin, CJ Kayfus and George Valera (all of whom have had a big league stint this season) and No. 12 prospect Kahlil Watson.
Saturday forced the Guardians to get creative with their roster puzzle. Schneemann entered defensively in center field, which pushed Stuart Fairchild to right. Schneemann gave the Guardians their 3-1 lead with a two-run homer off Skubal in the third inning. He became just the seventh left-handed hitter to take the Tigers’ ace deep.
Schneemann moved to third base when Ramírez exited the game entering the sixth inning. That prompted Kwan to move from left to center, and Rhys Hoskins to move from first base to left. The Guardians’ only other option was to move David Fry from DH to the outfield, but their pitchers would have been in the lineup the rest of the game. Instead, Hoskins made his first appearance on the grass since Sept. 18, 2018.
“You guys feel lucky to see that out there?” Hoskins joked to media postgame.
Detroit’s Dillon Dingler led off the sixth with a triple; the fly ball landed near the bottom of the left-field wall. Colin Holderman worked around it to pitch a scoreless inning.
“Gosh, it's so much further [away] than first base,” Hoskins quipped. “I take some batting practice fly balls, just kind of messing around sometimes. But when the stands are full and the game means something, it’s a little different.
“Obviously, I would have loved to make that play. But Holdy picked me up and I didn't hurt us today, so I like that.”
Kwan, Schneemann, Hoskins and Fairchild each played two positions. The Guardians relished the team-wide effort behind Saturday’s win.
“That was a wild start to the game and no one got sped up,” Vogt said. “Everyone was ready, whatever we needed. These guys stepped up in a huge way.”