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‘Spark plug’ Steven Kwan sets the tone against Tigers, because Guardians don’t show a lick of rust

Vaseline October 6, 2024

Cleveland – If you walk around Progressive Field, inside and outside the ballpark, before, during and after a game, you will see a lot of red, white and blue Jose Ramirez jerseys and shirseys. Certainly more than any other Guardians player.

But the fandom for Steven Kwan isn’t exactly the distant second place you might think. There are 38s everywhere.

And it only took a few moments in Game 1 of the American League Division Series to realize why. Kwan is lighting the fire for this team, and he was busy again in the opening game against the Tigers. In a left-on-left battle against Detroit’s Tyler Holton, Kwan doubled off the right-field wall and pumped his arms as he reached second base.

He scored in short order, and so did the four teammates who followed him in the lineup as Cleveland raced to a 5-0 lead en route to a dominant 7-0 victory in the best-of-five series.

“It was great,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “Kwan goes out there and sets the tone, and it just worked from there. … Getting those runs on the board and getting a little momentum was huge.”

One of the biggest questions the Guardians faced in this series was whether they would be rusty. Saturday was their first game in a week, after last Sunday’s regular season finale was wiped out prior to a bye, as the Tigers faced (and were swept) the Houston Astros in a first-round matchup to to set up this series.

Well, if that was the Guardians at their rustiest, the Tigers don’t want to see them find a rhythm.

Kwan complimented the Guardians’ coaching staff for a good work week on the days off, including simulated matches.

“It was definitely a topic for a lot of coaches, to not get caught up and just go through the motions, really try to be intentional, really do a good job,” Kwan said. “It worked today.

“It’s Game 1. You never know how it’s going to play out after that. … It’s baseball. Long series. There’s a lot of good things to build on. It’s good momentum. But you know, we’ve got to get to the next game with preparation.”

The Guardians looked like a prepared bunch on Saturday against Holton, who had not allowed a run in twelve innings against Cleveland during the regular season.

Kwan, an All-Star this season, led off with the double, and David Fry walked, leaving Tigers manager AJ Hinch without an option to do what he loves to do, which is intentionally walk Ramirez. Ramirez took a close two-strike pitch that was just ruled low, then hit a hard chopper to third base that got past Zach McKinstry and scored Kwan. The next batter, Josh Naylor, hit a ball through the drawn-in infield in the right side to make it 2-0 and end Holton’s day.

Reese Olson came in for his first postseason appearance and his first relief appearance all season. The first batter he faced, trade deadline acquisition Lane Thomas, hit a hanging slider for a three-run homer to left. Thomas faced Olson earlier this season when he was with Washington.

“I didn’t even see it,” Kwan said of the homer. “It was great. The guys got excited. I was watching some stuff on the iPad and I just heard the guys getting excited.”

When asked if it was fun to blow up the Tigers’ unorthodox opening strategy, Kwan said, “Yeah, it’s cool.”

The first of five runs — Cleveland was the first American League team to open a playoff game with five runs without making an out — came after the Tigers stranded two runners in their half of the first against starter Tanner Bibee, who played Colt Keith got on the phone. to the left to end the inning. Minutes later, the Guardians hit hard and the Tigers never got back up. It was a big change in momentum, and more than enough for Bibee, who settled for 4.2 innings and left to a loud ovation — before waving his arms to the sold-out crowd of more than 33,000, prompting an even louder roar arose. Four relievers followed, showing why the Guardians have the best bullpen in the MLB, in case the Tigers forgot.

The Tigers struck out 13 times, with righthander Cade Smith striking out all four batters he faced while throwing 15 of 18 pitches for strikes.

“Getting Game 1 was really important,” said reliever Tim Herrin, who struck out two and walked one in his lone inning. “Because I had that week off, there were questions about the type of rest versus rust. This week we put the work in.

‘Tomorrow is a new day. You don’t want to get too high.’

Especially with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who will be the runaway Cy Young winner and American League Triple Crown winner, going for the Tigers in Game 2. In many ways, as Fox Sports analyst Ben Verlander (Justin’s younger brother and a former Tigers prospect) wrote on X on Saturday, Game 1 was essentially a must-win for the Guardians.

Kwan, who scored two runs and walked twice, got things going, and the Guardians kept it rolling.

There was not a trace of rust to be seen.

“Kwannie has been our spark plug all year,” Vogt said of the 6-foot-4 Kwan, a 3.9 WAR dynamo who had a .793 OPS, 14 home runs, 44 RBIs and 12 stolen bases during the regular season. and is likely to win his third Gold Glove in three years in left field. ‘Where he goes, we go.

“We came out ready to swing the bat, and it looked like we didn’t take five days off.”

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