CLEVELAND — October baseball has begun for the Cleveland Guardians, and the team got off to a hot start to open up the first game of their American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers.
After a 27-pitch first inning from Guardians' Tanner Bibee that saw just one hit with no runs, Cleveland was up to the plate—and the bats were hot early.
Lead-off batter Steven Kwan got things going with a line-drive double. Then David Fry came to the plate and took his base after getting walked.
With runners on first and second, José Ramírez was up to bat and started the tallies on the scoreboard, hitting a double to bring home Kwan. Cleveland quickly had a 1-0 lead over the Tigers.
With Fry on third and Ramírez on second, Josh Naylor joined in on the action, hitting an RBI single to bring in Fry and give the Guardians a 2-0 lead.
If that wasn't a hot enough start for Cleveland, Lane Thomas turned up the heat at the plate. Thomas knocked a 394-foot shot to center field into the stands—a three-run dinger to drive the Guardians' lead up to 5-0.
The inning made history, with the Guards becoming the first American League team ever to score five runs before recording an out to start a playoff game.
The Guardians will hope to ride the momentum from their hot start through the remaining innings and put their first notch in the postseason win column.
