DETROIT — José Ramírez took off from third base when Angel Martínez chopped a ground ball to Spencer Torkelson. After getting down the line in a hurry, the Guardians’ third baseman dove into home plate with a headfirst slide, beating Torkelson’s throw.
Ramírez scored the tying run in the eighth inning on Saturday, paving the way for the Guardians to complete a comeback in their 7-5 win in 10 innings over the Tigers at Comerica Park. Once down 3-0 in the first inning, Cleveland rallied with a four-run 10th behind run-scoring doubles from Kyle Manzardo and Martínez to knock off the AL Central leaders.
“There are very few people in the game that score on that ball,” manager Stephen Vogt said of Ramírez. “The jump he gets, the slide, you name it. He’s one of the best baserunners in baseball — if not the best baserunner in baseball.”
This weekend’s bout with the Tigers was a key matchup for the Guardians, and it was important to secure at least a split to ensure they kept pace in the division. Cleveland will walk away with at least three wins and a series victory, and it has a chance to finish a four-game sweep on Sunday.
After arriving in Detroit six games behind the Tigers in the standings, the Guardians have cut their deficit to three.
Cleveland has put together a strong finish to a challenging nine-game road trip that leads into a three-game set with the National League West-leading Dodgers at Progressive Field on Monday. After being swept in three games by the Reds last weekend, the Guardians are 4-1 against the Twins and Tigers this week and have won four consecutive games.
“That was the plan: to come here [and win the series],” Ramírez said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “It’s very important for us. That’s what we wanted to do here. For now, it’s important that we’ve got those three games. But the mindset is to try to win [Sunday] as well.”
Ramírez led off the eighth with a single and advanced to third on a single by Manzardo. Ramírez said his mindset was to go to the plate as soon as Martínez put the ball in play. Martínez’s grounder wasn’t hit hard (49.8 mph exit velocity), but Torkelson was playing even with the first-base bag.
His throw beat Ramírez by several steps, but he slid on the outside part of the foul line to the back of the plate.
“I had to find a way to get an angle where I just needed to touch and not necessarily go through with my body,” Ramírez said. “So that’s why I decided to slide that way.”
After Tim Herrin sent the game to extras with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, Ramírez was at the center of the Guardians’ go-ahead rally in the 10th. He started the inning at second as Cleveland’s automatic runner and scored when Manzardo hit an RBI double.
Manzardo hit a 90.7 mph changeup from Brenan Hanifee that was fading down and away. It carried over left fielder Riley Greene’s head and one-hopped the wall.
“Just doing everything I can to hit a ball hard,” Manzardo said. “Just trying to compete my butt off there — two strikes, late in the game. Just staying on it.”
That was an overall theme to Saturday’s win. The Guardians fell behind early but competed to stay in there and eventually came from behind to win.
Luis L. Ortiz surrendered three runs in the first inning and threw 28 pitches. He did not allow a run the rest of his outing, finishing with three runs on four hits and five walks over five innings.
“That was huge for him to get through five,” Vogt said. “He probably could have gone longer, but I felt like he had done his job. He had a lot of long innings. He was not at his best today, and he’d be the first one to tell you that. But he’s got the stuff to keep it a three-run game.”
Relievers Matt Festa, Joey Cantillo, Cade Smith and Herrin each threw a scoreless inning in relief. They collectively allowed just one walk and struck out six total. Smith issued a walk to Gleyber Torres to lead off the bottom of the eighth and then struck out Colt Keith, Greene and Torkelson.
Emmanuel Clase came on to pitch the 10th and allowed two runs (one earned) before settling in to seal the win for Cleveland.
“Any time you’re in-division, you want to win the series,” Vogt said. “We want to win every series. That’s our goal. So to do it, especially against a team like that — they’re really good — it was a big win.”
