ATLANTA -- One moment, Steven Kwan was diving headfirst into second base. In a flash (and with a bit of a mad dash), he was trotting home to score an insurance run for the Guardians.
In the Guardians’ 6-0 win over the Braves on Saturday, Kwan scored from first base on a play that started as a stolen-base attempt. He came all the way around to score with some heads-up baserunning mixed in with a bit of Atlanta misfortune.
The Guardians led, 3-0, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Kwan reached on a two-out walk against right-hander Osvaldo Bido and sensed an opportunity.
“We were up, so we could be a little risky with trying to steal a base,” Kwan said. “That's always an area that I'm trying to be better at -- obviously, watching Hosey [José Ramírez].”
Angel Martínez came up to hit after Kwan, who noticed Bido was throwing many offspeed pitches. Bido threw Martínez a first-pitch cutter, which Martínez fouled off. As Bido began his delivery on a second-pitch changeup, Kwan took off for second base.
Bido’s offering was down and inside to the left-handed-hitting Martínez. Braves catcher Jonah Heim could not corral it, and it ended up at the backstop. When Kwan slid into second base headfirst, he noticed Braves shortstop Mauricio Dubón do a "fake" jump, as if he were about to retrieve a throw from Heim. Kwan knew something "fishy" was up.
Kwan gathered himself and saw Heim standing behind the plate. The backstop could not find which direction the ball trickled away. Kwan took off for third and entered a coast as he neared the bag, at which point Heim finally retrieved the ball just in front of the backstop.
Heim geared up to fire a strike to third base, but almost seemed to try to withdraw it as Kwan was clearly going to be safe. Heim’s throw was way off-line and into foul territory. It trickled down the left-field line, allowing Kwan to score standing up.
“I didn't actually see it, but I'm guessing he tried to throw it and then it came out, and then I just kind of walked home,” Kwan said. “Those things happen in a split-second that you can't really think. You just kind of react.”
It helped the Guardians secure a win, and was a fitting nod to Ramírez, who's the Guardians' top base-stealer. As Kwan alluded to, the third baseman stole two bases Saturday (and hit a solo home run) and now has 291 steals in his career.