Guardians sweep doubleheader with 2 walk-offs
Brayan Rocchio's 2-homer game and a Travis Bazzana walk-off gave Cleveland both ends of Friday's doubleheader against Detroit, and the network could not stop talking about it.
Rocchio's 2-homer game opens a sweep
Cleveland beat Detroit 7-6 in the opener on a walk-off in the 9th, with Brayan Rocchio going 2-for-4 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI — the game the club's own account, @CleGuardians, called simply 'The Brayan Rocchio game.' The Guardians then took the nightcap 4-3, also on a walk-off, this one delivered by Travis Bazzana according to the site's own recap of the sweep, 'Rocchio, Bazzana Walk Off Guardians To Doubleheader Sweep Of Tigers.'
Tigers7-6Tigers4-3The sweep pushed Cleveland to 72-70 and, per Keegan Matheson, left Toronto (71-71) a half-game back in the wild-card race even though the Blue Jays still hold the season tiebreaker. The Guardians carry an elimination number of 19 games to Toronto's 8. It also salvaged a 3-2 stretch over the last 5 games after Cleveland had dropped 2 of 3 to the Blue Jays earlier in the week.
@StoolBaseball: 'Another Guardians walkoff'
Barstool's baseball account posted 'THE BRAYAN ROCCHIO GAME' after the opener, then 'ANOTHER GUARDIANS WALKOFF' once the nightcap ended the same way. Cleveland personality Ohio's Tate, who had been pushing a high-scoring Game 1 on the @Pick6 app before first pitch, turned to Rocchio directly once the runs started: 'PUT THE GUARDS ON YOUR BACK THEN, ROCCHIO!'
It's the kind of week the network has leaned into: Barstool Bush's own doubleheader-sweep piece ran alongside an earlier one on Toronto's series win, 'Blue Jays Beat Guardians 6-3, Pull Within Half-Game of Wild Card,' filed after Nathan Lukes' bases-loaded double broke that game open. Two nights later, Cleveland had answered both the Jays and the Tigers in the same week.
Upcoming
The Guardians host the Tigers tonight, with Parker Messick (11-8, 2.46 ERA) opposing Framber Valdez (8-10, 4.36 ERA). Messick was sharp in his last start, working 6 innings with 1 earned run and 5 strikeouts in a win over Kansas City on August 30, while Valdez took the loss that same day against the Dodgers, allowing 3 earned runs over 6 innings. Cleveland will make the turn light in the outfield: Chase DeLauter (wrist) is day-to-day per manager Stephen Vogt, via Tim Stebbins of MLB.com, and Angel Martinez left Friday's second game with a shoulder bruise, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News; the bullpen also lost Colin Holderman to the 15-day injured list with wrist inflammation, per Stebbins.
The market favors Cleveland and reads the game as low-scoring, a line that tracks with Messick's ERA holding up against a Detroit lineup facing a pitcher who has beaten Kansas City more often than he's been beaten lately. For that number to hold, Messick needs to work deep again as he did against the Royals, and Valdez — as he showed against the Dodgers — has to keep the Tigers from cashing the total on his own.