CLEVELAND -- In the long run, maybe we’ll remember this as the Weekend of Walk-offs at Progressive Field.
Or more importantly, maybe it’ll be the weekend that helped pave the Guardians’ path to the postseason.
Daniel Schneemann hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning on Sunday, to send the Guardians to a 3-2 win over the Tigers at Progressive Field. It marked Schneemann’s first career walk-off hit, Cleveland’s seventh this season and its third this weekend.
Brayan Rocchio hit a walk-off solo home run to secure a 7-6 win in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader, and Travis Bazzana knocked a walk-off single in a 4-3 win in Game 2. All three could be crucial for the Guardians in the American League postseason race.
Cleveland improved to 73-71 and moved to two games out of first place in the AL Central, pending the outcome of the first-place White Sox (74-68) matchup with the Twins on Sunday Night Baseball.
Cleveland actually entered Sunday on the outside looking in at the American League postseason picture. Though the Guardians and Blue Jays had the same record, Toronto held the third AL Wild Card spot by virtue of winning the two clubs' head-to-head season series.
A few games or one single series can swing things dramatically this time of year. The Guardians need to win as often as they can over the next three weeks. They took care of business by taking three of four from Detroit.
Starter Gavin Williams paved the way. The big right-hander allowed two runs on four hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts over six innings. He assumed the MLB lead in punchouts (228), ahead of Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski (227).
Sunday also marked Williams’ 11th start this season with 10-plus strikeouts, which broke a tie with Misiorowski for the MLB lead. Williams is just the fifth pitcher in Cleveland franchise history with 11 or more starts with double-digit strikeouts in a single season, He joins Bob Feller (1946), Sam McDowell (1965, ‘68), Herb Score (1956) and Corey Kluber (2014, ‘17).