Fry-day on Thursday: Pinch-hit homer helps Guardians win, force Game 5 in ALDS

DETROIT — This time, Stephen Vogt made the right call. The rookie manager was criticized for early pinch-hit decisions during a Game 3 loss, but Thursday night in Game 4 at Comerica Park, no one from Cleveland was complaining when David Fry hit a two-run pinch-hit homer to power a 5-4 victory. Fry's two-run shot — only the second postseason pinch-hit homer in club history — brought the Guardians back from a 3-2 deficit in the seventh, helping to end their losing streak in elimination games at 11. It was the first time a Cleveland player has hit a postseason pinch-hit homer to put his team in the lead. "It sounded good, the angle was right, but there's a lot of room out there in left field, so I didn't want to celebrate too early," said Steve Kwan, who was on second base when Fry connected. "But then I saw it fly over and it was instant blackout." Game 5 is Saturday at Progressive Field, tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The Guardians, who were shut out in Games 2 and 3, ended their 20-inning scoreless streak early, getting consecutive singles from Kwan and Kyle Manzardo to start the game before Jose Ramirez flied to left and Josh Naylor struck out. Lane Thomas delivered on the first pitch he saw from opener starter Reese Olson, scoring Kwan with a hard base hit in the hole between first and second. Kwan extended his postseason hitting streak to nine games — tied for the second longest in club history with Tony Fernandez (1997). Tanner Bibee wasted the good fortune quickly, allowing three straight to reach to start the second inning, including two on walks. The Tigers tied it on a sacrifice fly from Kyle Sweeney, but Jake Rogers lined into an inning-ending double play to limit the damage. Ramirez silenced the crowd when he hit a 2-1 pitch from Tyler Holton into the seats in left field to break the 1-all tie with only his second hit of the series. But, again, Bibee gave it back, and in a big way, when Zack McKinstry started the fifth by lining his 3-1 pitch just over the wall in left. It ended the night for Bibee, who tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out five in his first career postseason start during a 7-0 Game 1 win at Progressive Field on Saturday. The Tigers scored the go-ahead run off the Guardians' major league-leading bullpen in the sixth after Cade Smith allowed his first baserunners — a hit and walk — of the series in his second inning of work. Detroit forged ahead 3-2 on Spencer Torkelson's two-out single off Hunter Gaddis. Down to their last 2 1/3 innings, Kwan got his second hit of the game — a two-out single — and Fry followed by hitting a 2-2 pitch off Beau Brieske just over the wall in left-center. Fry's safety squeeze bunt in the ninth scored Brayan Rocchio with a run that loomed large when Vogt employed closer Emmanuel Clase for multiple innings and the right-hander allowed a run before getting the save. Vogt was criticized for using Clase for multiple innings for only the second time this year when the All-Star allowed a game-winning homer in a 3-0 loss in Game 2 at Progressive Field on Monday. "It's a nice deep breath when he's in there. He does his thing," Kwan said. "I think people were probably a little curious about how he would be the next time, but he came out throwing it well. It was god to see him out there." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.