Rocchio's heroics in 9th rescue Guardians, doom Taylor, White Sox again — SkimNews
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- Brayan Rocchio laced a two-out, two-strike single down the left-field line off a 100 mph Grant Taylor fastball in the ninth, plating Daniel Schneemann and David Fry to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 Guardians win Tuesday night in Cleveland.
- Rocchio now has a major league-best four walk-off hits this season, all against AL Central opponents, including two against White Sox reliever Grant Taylor — the first a home run off Taylor in July.
- Rookie Sam Antonacci took a poor route to the sinking liner in left, and after the game called it 'pretty dogs---,' saying 'you can't make those types of routes in that position' in the big leagues.
- The Guardians moved within a half-game of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central, though Chicago owns the tiebreaker, meaning Cleveland must leapfrog them to repeat as division champs.
- Rocchio is the first player with multiple come-from-behind walk-off hits against the same pitcher in a season since 1930, and his four walk-offs versus division foes are tied for the most in a season over the past 50 years.
- Guardians closer Cade Smith drew a parallel to last September, when Cleveland overcame an 11-game deficit to overtake Detroit: 'It's like last year in September. Where we were playing playoff games for the whole month and a half before the end of the regular season.'
Why it matters: With the win, the Guardians closed to within a half-game of the White Sox in the AL Central race, and because Chicago holds the tiebreaker, Cleveland must finish ahead of them in the season series finale Wednesday to keep alive a path to back-to-back division titles — making Rocchio's clutch bat directly tied to the Guardians' playoff hopes.
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