CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The longer it went, the more Guardians manager Terry Francona thought it might end this way.
The temperature kept dropping, the pitching kept getting better and the hitters, dealing with an endless stream of hard-throwing relievers and the growing shadows at Progressive Field, kept striking out.
Francona was talking about one swing of the bat ending 15 innings of drama and zeroes on a cold Saturday in October.
Rookie right fielder Oscar Gonzalez had to feel the same way when he came to the plate to face Tampa Bay’s Corey Kluber, who had pitched so many big games at the ballpark on the corner of Carneige and Ontario.
But now the soldout crowd of almost 35,000 was behind their guy, Gonzalez. Kluber, one of the most decorated pitchers in Cleveland history, was wearing the wrong uniform.
“I was looking for a breaking pitch,” said Gonzalez through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “I know myself and I know I can react to the fastball, so I was just trying to get myself in a better position for the breaking pitch.”
A breaking pitch, Kluber’s cut fastball, is what he got to start the 15th inning. He took the first cutter at 84 mph for a ball as it dipped down and out of the strike zone. Kluber hung the second cutter, this one at 85 mph, and Gonzalez hit it like he owned it. The ball landed somewhere in the left-field bleachers in a mass of fans to give the Guardians a 1-0 victory in a game that covered the most innings in their postseason history.
“There’s no way to describe it,” said Gonzalez. “It was such an exciting moment that it’s hard for me to put into words.”
Gonzalez said a quick prayer before he stepped into the batter’s box. It’s doubtful he was the only one as the Guardians swept the Rays in the wild card series and won for the 26th time in their last 31 games.
The home run started a celebration at the plate that gained momentum in the clubhouse as be-goggled players doused each with champagne and beer, while smoking fat cigars. Gonzalez, 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, was in the middle of it and he was hard to miss.
Gonzalez called the home run a “wake-up call” to fans who still may doubt the Guardians, a team that won 92 games during the regular season, while having 17 rookies make their big-league debut.
“I feel how the fans reacted is a wake-up call to see where we are, what we’re doing, and most importantly, where we’re going to go,” he said.
Where Gonzalez, one of the 17 rookies who made their debut in 2022, and the Guards are going is Yankee Stadium to open the best-of-five-AL Division Series on Tuesday against the Yankees. They are scheduled to fly to New York on Sunday and work out Monday.
Lefty Sam Hentges pitched the last three innings, striking out six, for the win. He played in the minors with Gonzalez and knows what kind of power he has.
“I think everybody in the stadium knew that it was out right away,” said Hentges. “But it was a lot of fun. It’s fun to watch him. I came up with him in the minor leagues and it’s cool to see, the rest of the world now gets to see what he can do.”
The Guardians promoted Gonzalez from Class AAA Columbus on May 26. He took to right field like he was born to play it and ended the season hitting .296 (107-for-362) with 27 doubles, 11 homers and 43 RBI in 90 games. Gonzalez’s offense helped fill the void when Franmill Reyes was designated for assignment after the August trading deadline.
Gonzalez also represents a stroke of good fortune. At the end of the 2021 season, a season in which he hit 31 homers in the minors, he was a minor league free agent. The G’s re-signed him in Nov. 11, 2021, which was a good thing.
What they didn’t do was protect him on the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 Draft in December. But MLB’s lockout lasted so long that the Rule 5 Draft was canceled and Gonzalez remained with Cleveland.
As Francona said late in the regular season, “Thank goodness there wasn’t a Rule 5 Draft this year.”
“It’s been really fun to see, especially for such a young player,” said Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations. “Oscar has been remarkably consistent, and really since the day he’s been called up he’s found a way to contribute and help us win games.”
Gonzalez, 24, is young. His walk-up music is the theme song to the cartoon SpongeBob Square Pants. In the seventh inning, he beat out an infield single. On a pickoff attempt, he dove back into first base and broke his belt. First base coach Sandy Alomar, acting like Gonzalez’s father, took off his belt and gave it to Gonzalez.
But there is nothing young about the way Gonzalez has refined his game at the plate. When he joined the Guardians in Detroit, Francona told him not to worry about walks -- he walked 15 times in 382 plate appearances -- and to concentrate on swinging at good pitches. They asked him to go to right field, to make contact and not overswing looking for the home run.
Gonzalez did all of that. So when he was asked if he was trying to hit a home run in the 15th inning, he had the perfect answer.
“I think you can never have that mindset, you know, looking for a homer,” he said. “It just doesn’t help. I think for me it’s always trying to get a good connection, try to get the barrel on the ball, and try to help the team in any way,. That was my focus in this particular at-bat.
“Knowing the pitch that I was going to get and I tried to make a good connection.”
Mission accomplished.
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