The Cleveland Guardians used a historic early burst and the New York Mets rallied late to open the second round of the Major League Baseball playoffs with victories on Saturday.
Cleveland’s Lane Thomas crushed a three-run home run off Detroit reliever Reese Olson as the Guardians put up five runs without an out in the first inning on the way to a 7-0 victory over the Tigers in their American League division series.
Steven Kwan smacked a leadoff double off Tigers starting pitcher Tyler Holton, David Fry walked and Jose Ramirez hit a ground ball that went through the legs of Detroit third baseman Zach McKinstry and allowed Kwan to score.
Fry scored on Josh Naylor’s single before Olson replaced Holton on the mound, a move that didn’t prevent the Guardians becoming the first AL team to score five runs before recording an out in a playoff game.
“It was awesome,” Thomas said. “It started with the guys in front of me, so I think it wouldn’t have been possible without those guys.”
Fry delivered a two-run double in the sixth to extend the lead for Cleveland, who took a 1-0 lead in the best of five AL series.
In Philadelphia, the Mets manufactured five runs in the eighth inning on the way to another miraculous comeback win, 6-2 over the Phillies.
Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber had set the tone with the fifth post-season leadoff homer of his career.
Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler made the 1-0 lead stand up through seven gritty innings, surrendering just one hit with four walks and nine strike outs.
But the Mets took advantage of the Phillies relievers in the eighth, with Mark Vientos delivering a game-tying single with no outs after Francisco Alvarez singled and Francisco Lindor walked.
Brandon Nimmo followed with a run-scoring single to put the Mets up 2-1. Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly scored Vientos, J.D. Martinez singled to plate a run and Starling Marte hit a sacrifice fly to push the Mets to a 5-1 lead.
Nimmo drove in another run in the top of the ninth and the Mets had their third come-from-behind victory in six games.
They had rallied in the ninth inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers in a winner-take-all first-round game three.
That set up the first post-season meeting between the Mets and Phillies, longtime NL East division rivals who have played more than a thousand regular-season contests.
– Ohtani on deck –
Later Saturday, Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani was poised to make his MLB playoff debut as the Los Angeles Dodgers opened their National League division series against the San Diego Padres.
Ohtani won two American League Most Valuable Player awards in six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels but never made it to the post-season.
Asked if he was feeling nervous ahead of his playoff debut, Ohtani didn’t even need to wait for his usual translation of the question.
“Nope,” he answered in English before adding through an interpreter: “It’s always been my childhood dream to be able to be in an important game.
“So I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else I could possibly feel.”
The day’s other AL contest saw Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees facing the Kansas City Royals, the first post-season meeting between the once-fierce playoff rivals since 1980.
Judge, the former Rookie of the Year and 2022 AL MVP is aiming to cap another stellar season — in which he led the majors with 58 home runs — with a World Series title.
The Royals are back in the playoffs just one year after losing 106 games.
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