Guardians notes: Manager Stephen Vogt goes with three rookies in lineup for second straight game

CLEVELAND — For the second straight day, the Guardians were facing an elimination game Thursday. For the second straight day, manager Stephen Vogt had three rookies in the lineup. Chase DeLauter was back in center field following an eventful major league debut Wednesday, while C.J. Kayfus started at first base and George Valera was in right. The only difference between Cleveland's Game 2 lineup was DeLauter moving up a spot in the order to fifth and shortstop Gabriel Arias dropping to sixth. "There's a number of reasons, strategy," Vogt explained. "We know more than likely this is going to turn into a bullpen game. We know each other really well. It's more of just protection, different things that we can do with the lineup. So there's a lot of factors going into it. "We're trying to find the best way to get to (Tigers Game 3 starter Jack) Flaherty and protect ourselves the best we can when they go to the bullpen. So we feel like this is the lineup with our best hitters in it and we're going to roll with it." Left fielder Steven Kwan got a good look at the youth infusion Wednesday, playing alongside DeLatuer and Valera. "We had a pitching change. It was me, Chase and George out there. I'm like the uncle now. It came out fast," Kwan joked. "I think the biggest thing for them is understanding that they belong here, that they got here. They deserve to be here. "Not patronizing them, not trying to be like this big brother kind of thing. I think a lot of guys, they're too smart for that. They want to act like one of the guys. They don't want to act like the young guy on the team. The faster you can get to them to feel like one of the boys, the faster they can produce and help us win games." After dropping a fly ball on the second batter of the game Wednesday, DeLauter had a huge outfield assist to negate a run in the fourth, but Vogt was more impressed by his at-bats. "You go to the first (at-bat), where you just had the play in the field," Vogt said. "You're going for your very first major league at-bat of your life and you're down 0-2, and you end up working a walk. It's real easy to see somebody just flail after they're down (0-2). He was on those pitches. For him to control the at-bat and work a walk, that was really impressive. "And then to see him hit a ball at (an exit velocity of) 111 (mph in the seventh inning on a lineout to center), I think it's pretty fun. But he didn't look overmatched. He didn't look like he was getting dominated at any point. He was controlling the at-bats." Cold spell Kwan addressed his recent offensive struggles prior to Game 3. His only hit in the first two games of the series was a double in the eighth inning in Game 2 on Wednesday, and he entered Thursday 2-for-23 over his last six games dating to the regular season. "It's just baseball," Kwan said. "There will always be sample sizes where you may not be happy with the outcomes, especially in games like this. It takes one (hit) to get hot, and one hit can mean the difference in the game." "If he's on time, he's going to be in a good place," Vogt said of Kwan. "I think we've seen a lot of Kwany fly balls to left, so either that's a pitch that is a little bit up to him or he is a little bit late. Hitting is timing and pitch selection, it's not mechanics. You got to be swinging at the right pitches and be on time for him before you can think about your swing." Challenge it Vogt tipped the cap to Guardians replay coordinator Gunnar Wilhemy, who advised the manager to challenge the safe call at third base on DeLauter's assist in Game 2. The call was overturned and a run was taken off the board for the Tigers, leaving the score tied at 1. "That's why Gunnar's a valuable member of our team," Vogt said. "I have no clue what he does in that (replay) room. I have no clue how fast he's working, what camera angles, and I don't need to know. I can't even open my computer, let alone look at a video that quick. "Gunnar's come up huge multiple times for us this year, and last year we had a few challenges early as he was learning how to do it that we learned from. He's studying every single replay review that happens in the major leagues and looking to see what he could learn from that. He takes his job very, very seriously." Un-tameable Tiger The Guardians have had trouble containing Detroit shortstop Javy Baez, who went 4-for-7 with a 1.143 OPS in the first two games of the series. Baez, an All-Star during a bounce back season, is a career .243 hitter in 57 regular-season games against Cleveland, but batted .320 (8-for-25) against the Guardians this year. "We've got to do a better job against him. We have pitched him well," Vogt said. "We've got to make some adjustments again him because he's feeling it now. "Javy Baez is a good player. He had a down season last year, but it doesn't negate that this guy has been one of the best shortstops in the game for long time." Baez entered Thursday owning a career .240 average in 38 postseason games, the majority with the Cubs. He batted .167 (5-for-30) in Chicago's World Series win over Cleveland in 2016. Roundin' third Brayan Rocchio owns a career .222 batting average in the regular season, but he entered Thursday with hits in nine of his 12 career postseason games, batting .308 (12-for-39) with two doubles, two homers and an .899 OPS. Rocchio's game-changing homer in Game 2 was on a 99.9 mph fastball from right-hander Troy Melton, accounting for the fifth-fastest pitch a Cleveland hitter has homered on and the fastest since Oscar Mercado (100 mph) off Toronto's Jordan Romero in 2021. Roberto Perez (2014-21) threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.