Guardians Blitz Tigers Early, Open ALDS In Style With Convincing Shutout

The Cleveland Guardians scored 5 runs in the first inning and never looked back, shutting out the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the ALDS, 7-0.

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) cheers on as he walks back to the dugout for pitching change during the fifth inning of Game 1 of ALDS at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There are two sides to every coin. 

All week long, Cleveland fans debated whether or not it would be beneficial or detrimental to the Guardians that the team had such a long layoff between the regular season finale and their first postseason game.

Suffice it to say the Guardians made it abundantly clear that a full week without playing a game was not problematic.

Cleveland scored 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning against Detroit in Game 1 of the ALDS before it even recorded an out.  Despite not playing a game since last Saturday, the Guardians looked sharp all afternoon in a comfortable, dominant 7-0 win.

No American League team had ever scored five runs without having a batter retired to start a playoff game. Ironically, the last time Cleveland scored five straight runs to start a game was on September 15, 2018 … against the Tigers. The Guardians wound up winning that game 15-0 and clinched the AL Central title that day.

Saturday’s matchup against the Tigers felt like a must-win for Cleveland. Detroit came in with a 33-13 record since August 11, easily the best mark in the big leagues during that stretch. Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch elected to save his ace pitcher (and assumed CY Young Award winner) Tarik Skubal to start Game 2 on Monday afternoon. It would be a bullpen day for the Motor City Kitties as they tried to take a series lead against the Guardians.

But Cleveland had other plans.

Steven Kwan opened the game by ripping a double off the right field wall that was inches away from leaving the ballpark. After David Fry walked, Jose Ramirez singled down the third base line on a hot smash that Zach McKinstry couldn’t handle. That scored Kwan and sent a sold-out Progressive Field into a frenzy. 

Josh Naylor softly singled through the right side to plate Fry and make it a 2-0 game. More importantly, that knocked Tyler Holton out of the game after just four batters.

Unfortunately for Detroit, Holton’s reliever Reese Olson got a rather rude Cleveland greeting.

The first pitch Olson threw to Lane Thomas may have been registered by NASA. Thomas launched a titanic, 3-run blast deep into the left field bleachers to give the Guardians a 5-0 lead. It was the first postseason at-bat of Thomas’ Major League career.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the energy in the ballpark triggered the Richter scale. The press box shook as a red wave of elated Guardians fans celebrated an almost unimaginably good start. 

That 5-run cushion was more than enough for Tanner Bibee and Cleveland’s bullpen.

Bibee left the game with two outs in the fourth inning after just 76 pitches. He struck out six, walked one and scattered four hits over a scoreless start.

Cade Smith, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase shut down any hopes of a Tigers comeback. They combined to throw 4.1 hitless innings and struck out seven.

David Fry helped pad the lead with a 2-run double in the sixth inning.

Armed with a 1-0 series lead, Cleveland will start former Tiger Matthew Boyd on Monday in Game 2. He’ll square off against his former teammate and good friend Tarik Skubal. First pitch is scheduled for 4:08 PM ET.