Despite Gibson’s fairytale home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers, Fry’s had the power to launch the Guardians into a do-or-die Game 5 against their upstart division rivals on Saturday.

“As a kid you dream about it and you think about it all the time, and in the offseason when you’re working on things, and then it happens and it goes by really quickly,” Fry said. “I remember looking at the dugout and giving Sandy (Alomar Jr.) a high five, and then blacking out, and you’d be in the dugout and cheering with the guys. Yes, it was a lot of fun.”

Called to pinch hit for Kyle Manzardo with two outs and Steven Kwan at first base, Fry was scheduled to face Tigers left-hander Sean Guenther, but Detroit manager AJ Hinch went to righty Beau Brieske, against whom Fry had three had faced before, with a strikeout. in every at bat.

But Fry struggled against the big, bad right-hander, fouling a changeup and a 97 mph fastball before even getting to 2-2. When Brieske went low and inside with a fastball, Fry dropped his barrel and ripped the pitch 300 feet into the Cleveland bullpen.

It was his first career postseason home run and only the second pinch-hit homer in franchise history, joining Hank Majeski in Game 4 of the 1954 World Series against the Giants.

In fact, Fry’s home run was the first pinch-hit homer in franchise history to give Cleveland the lead. Just like Gibby when he limped around the bases 34 years ago. According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Fry, Gibson (1988), Ed Sprague (1992) and Eric Hinske are the only players with pinch-hit, go-ahead home runs while trailing in the seventh inning or later in the MLB postseason history.

“I was just trying to hit a pitch, and luckily I was able to fight off some pitches with two strikes and was able to shoot up a little bit.”

Fry eventually drove in three of Cleveland’s five runs, including an RBI sacrifice bunt in the ninth inning that scored Brayan Rocchio from third and gave the Guardians a two-run cushion. It proved important when Detroit closed in on Emmanuel Clase for a run in the ninth before Clase closed the door on the 5-4 win.

Fry said manager Stephen Vogt approached him prior to the at-bat in the ninth and asked how comfortable he felt in a safety situation.

“I told him I wasn’t a good hitter in high school, so I’m pretty confident; I had to throw a lot of punches,” Fry said. “Right before I went up, he said, ‘Go ahead and do it on the first pitch,’ and luckily I got the run in.”

Vogt went to his bench early and often in Game 3 in search of favorable matchups, but was unable to get the results he was looking for. That was not the case on Thursday. He said sending Fry to Brieske was more about the match, despite Brieske’s previous success.

“David was very good as a right-handed pitcher and Beau Brieske pitched very well against us all year,” Vogt said. “At that point we wanted to get a right-on-right matchup, and David Fry is one of the best baseball players in this league. He’s just a baseball player. You saw it tonight.”

Hinch said the Guardians have a number of hitters who can turn things around for an opponent.

“Whether it’s Kwan being on base all night, Fry coming off the bench and doing all kinds of things, and Rocchio down low had some good swings,” Hinch said. “I would just as soon not put José Ramírez in a big spot.”

Ramírez, who hit his first home run of the series, a solo shot in the fifth inning that gave Cleveland a brief 2-1 lead, said he was pleased with Fry’s success.

“He’s been in that spot for us all year,” Ramírez said through Guardians interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Anytime we’re asked to do things on defense, on offense he’s always the guy that comes through, and we always expect that from him. I’m excited about the year he’s had so far. “