{"id":195822,"date":"2025-10-01T23:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195822\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T23:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T23:09:08","slug":"just-when-i-thought-it-might-be-over-for-the-guardians-boom-terry-pluto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/195822\/","title":{"rendered":"Just when I thought it might be over for the Guardians … BOOM! \u2013 Terry Pluto"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 Don\u2019t you love the playoffs? Don\u2019t you love the Guardians<\/a>?<\/p>\n

How about Brayan Rocchio?<\/p>\n

He hit a clutch home run \u2026 AGAIN!<\/p>\n

Final score: Guardians 6, Detroit 1.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Guardians live on. The playoffs are on to Game 3 of these best-of-three Wild Card Series on Thursday at Progressive Field.<\/p>\n

Both teams will know this: One team will win. One team will go home.<\/p>\n

Do you feel what I feel? <\/p>\n

That maybe, just maybe \u2026 This season will go on for the Guardians into the next round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"ClevelandCleveland Guardians second baseman Brayan Rocchio rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Detroit Tigers in the eighth inning of the AL wild card game 2.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comStill shocked<\/p>\n

As I write this at Progressive Field, I can\u2019t quite believe what I\u2019m writing.<\/p>\n

Just a few moments ago, it was the bottom of the eighth inning. One out. The score was 1-1.<\/p>\n

The Guardians had exactly two hits in 7\u2153 innings. <\/p>\n

Then \u2026 boom.<\/p>\n

Make that \u2026 BOOM!!! <\/p>\n

Rocchio hammered a home run into the right field seats. The Detroit Tigers looked stunned.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, it was like someone turned on the faucet. The win-or-go-home pressure the Guardians were feeling was let loose.<\/p>\n

Rocchio\u2019s homer set the Guardians free. The 26,659 fans were screaming, stomping and roaring.<\/p>\n

THEY \u2026 COULD \u2026 FEEL \u2026 IT.<\/p>\n

That fear the Tigers have experienced for two months of maybe blowing a spot in the playoffs \u2026<\/p>\n

That frustration of dealing with the Guardians, who have now defeated them in 6 of 8 games in the last three weeks \u2026 <\/p>\n

It all came back to haunt Detroit. <\/p>\n

\"ClevelandCleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor reacts after hitting a three-run homer against the Detroit Tigers in the eighth inning of the AL wild card game 2.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comHere come the Guardians<\/p>\n

After Rocchio\u2019s homer rocked the stadium, Cleveland\u2019s bats came alive.<\/p>\n

Forget sitting on a 2-1 lead — time to bury Detroit.<\/p>\n

Steven Kwan followed Rocchio\u2019s homer with a whap of a double down the right-field line. <\/p>\n

Next up, Daniel Schneemann doubled down on Kwan\u2019s double \u2026 with his own double to right field.<\/p>\n

Just like that, it was 3-1. <\/p>\n

Cleveland kept hitting. Bo Naylor crushed his own homer to right field \u2013 a three-run shot.<\/p>\n

Within about five minutes, a 1-1 game was 6-1 in favor of the Guardians.<\/p>\n

The bottom of the ninth wasn\u2019t easy. Closer Cade Smith had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam to put an exclamation point on yet another remarkable and improbable Guardians victory.<\/p>\n

\"ClevelandGuardians celebrate Game 2 victory.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.comIt\u2019s not over yet<\/p>\n

I came into this game with a bit of baseball fear and trepidation.<\/p>\n

I wondered if the Guardians had any magic left. The needle of their emotional gas gauge had to be on empty. <\/p>\n

They have played so many big games for so long to steal the Central Division away from Tigers \u2026 I keep thinking about how Detroit had a 12\u00bd-game lead on Cleveland only five weeks ago.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to the Guardians, I often think wrong.<\/p>\n

When I thought they were finished as a playoff contender during their 10-game losing streak in July \u2026 I was wrong.<\/p>\n

When I was sure they were done in terms of the playoffs when they lost 9 of 10 in August \u2026 I was wrong.<\/p>\n

When they lost the opener of the Wild Card series 2-1, then seemed lost at bat in this Game 2 \u2026 I had that same sad sinking feeling.<\/p>\n

Then \u2026. Boom!<\/p>\n

Then \u2026 Rocchio!<\/p>\n

Then \u2026 the onslaught. Double after double, the three-run Bo Naylor home run.<\/p>\n

Then \u2026 the season isn\u2019t over. Not with how this team plays. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 Don\u2019t you love the playoffs? Don\u2019t you love the Guardians? How about Brayan Rocchio? He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[76875,113480,99],"class_list":["post-195822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cleveland-guardians-2025","tag-detroit-tiger-2025","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}