Cleveland Baseball Insider

Rosario's Pinch-Hit, Walk-Off Lifts Cleveland Over Tampa Bay

After the Guardians and Rays played to a 1-1 tie through nine innings, Amed Rosario hit the first pitch he saw all night into right center field for Cleveland's seventh walk-off this year.

Brendan Gulick

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Wednesday's game had a little bit of everything, including some awesome late-game drama.

Amed Rosario lifted the Guardians to a remarkable 13-5 record in extra innings games this year with a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th. Cleveland beat Tampa Bay 2-1 to even the series and force a decisive third game tomorrow.

Rosario's walk-off was Cleveland's seventh of the season and personally his third consecutive walk-off. He was the batter when Minnesota made an error to end the second game of a doubleheader on September 17 and he also had a walk-off single against Arizona on August 1.

It was the sixth career walk-off hit for Rosario, who was pinch-hitting for Luke Maile with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th.

Triston McKenzie pitched fairly well, holding Tampa Bay to just one run on three hits over six innings, lowering his ERA to 2.99 now on the season. He struck out six and walked one.

It was a bit of an atypical night for the Guardians, who struck out 14 times. Entering the night, Cleveland led all of Major League Baseball in strikeout rate with just 17.9 percent of its at bats ending in K's. For what it's worth, that's the lowest rate the team has had since the 2012 season.

What's particularly odd about Wednesday night? It wasn't like the Guardians drew a really tough pitcher they couldn't connect with. Tyler Glasnow, who made his 2022 season debut after having Tommy John Surgery on August 4, 2021, pitched just three innings.

Eight different Rays pitchers stymied Cleveland's bats over the first nine innings, which also included the 1 hour, 3 minute rain delay.

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Brendan Gulick
BRENDAN GULICK

Brendan Gulick is the publisher for BuckeyesNow, Cleveland Baseball Insider and Cavs Insider on the FanNation Network. He is also an accomplished host and play-by-play voice on TV and radio, including on Big Ten Network and NCAA.com where he's called 45 NCAA national championships. Gulick is an update anchor and fill-in host at 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio.

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