Cleveland scored six runs in eighth inning after its first three batters struck out
The Guardians are locked in a tight three-team race for the top spot in the American League Central, and if Cleveland wins the division, it may look back to Wednesday’s 8-4 win over Detroit as a turning point.
Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Guardians scored six times after their first three batters struck out.
Wait, what?
Here’s how it went down. Owen Miller and Andrés Giménez opened the inning by striking out. Luke Maile then swung at a pitch in the dirt from Tigers pitcher Andrew Chafin. It was strike three, but the ball bounced away from catcher Eric Haase.
Maile made it to first on the dropped third strike, and then the Guardians’ bats caught fire. Well, that might be a bit of an overstatement, but the next seven batters reached on three singles, three doubles and a walk.
All told, six runs scored after the third strikeout.
“I’m not sure if I’ve seen that before,” Chafin told the Detroit Free-Press. “But, I mean, that’s baseball. ... It’s not a nice game, and it’s going to get you like that sometimes.”
MLB.com, quoting Elias, said it was the first time since at least 1961 that a team scored six runs or more after striking out three times in an inning.
“A strikeout that goes to the backstop,” Guardians manager Terry Francona told MLB.com. “How many times do you hear me say, ‘Keep playing, keep playing.’ That was kind of the ultimate.”
