CLEVELAND -- The Progressive Field faithful has recently taken to remixing Chase DeLauter’s walk-up song (John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”). In place of the song’s normal lyrics, they serenade the 24-year-old by asking him to hit a home run.
Country Roads, take me home
To the place I belong
Chase DeLauter, hit a homer
Take me home
DeLauter didn’t go deep in the eighth inning on Tuesday against the Astros. But he delivered the next-best thing when he hit a bases-loaded triple that erased the Guardians’ one-run deficit in their 8-5 win over the Astros.
DeLauter got a 2-2 four-seam fastball over the middle of the plate from Houston’s Bryan King. He sliced it down the left-field line, in front of and past a sliding Brice Matthews. The ball got all the way to the outfield wall, allowing each of Angel Martínez, Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan to score.
The knock snapped DeLauter’s personal 0-for-12 skid that dated to his final at-bat on Friday against the Orioles. His numbers have taken a dip since his red-hot start to the season, but he still entered the day with an .811 OPS and 11 walks compared to 11 strikeouts.
Rocchio, meanwhile, extended his career-high hitting streak to eight games with his base hit, before Kwan’s walk set the table for DeLauter.