Guardians' never-say-die attitude leads to unlikely standing: 'We don’t have quit in us'

Striking out three times to begin an inning isn't normally how teams want to start a rally. But hey, use whatever works, right?

In baseball, you really never know what you'll see on a given day at the ballpark. Take, for example, the fact that fans at Progressive Field Wednesday night watched the Guardians win a game in a fashion that hadn't been done since at least 1961. And it all started with three consecutive strikeouts.

Austin Hedges directs anger toward New York replay crew after loss: 'It cost the game'

With the Guardians trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Owen Miller, Andres Gimenez and Luke Maile all went down on strikes. Except Maile struck out swinging on a wild pitch from Andrew Chafin that went to the backstop, and Maile was able to safely advance to first base. The following sequence of events was a case study of how baseball can be a game of inches.

Myles Straw singled and was followed by Steven Kwan, who hit a ground-rule double that fell in fair territory by a matter of inches, scoring one run. Amed Rosario tied the score with a slow roller of a ground ball that found the perfect spot on the left side of the infield, allowing him to beat the throw from Willi Castro.

Jose Ramirez then gave the Guardians the lead with a bloop single that found the few feet of real estate in shallow left field not covered by Tigers defenders, falling just in front of left fielder Akil Baddoo. Ahead 6-4, Oscar Gonzalez followed with an RBI double and Owen Miller singled home the final run in the Guardians' six-run rally, which led to an 8-4 win.

It was the first time in the expansion era (since at least 1961) that a team began an inning with three strikeouts and scored at least six runs, according to Elias.

The win was made possible via a byproduct of what has allowed the Guardians to exceed outside expectations and grab first place in the American League Central Division. They make more contact than any team in baseball, something on which manager Terry Francona has harped throughout the season.

The Guardians make contact on 81 percent of their swings, according to FanGraphs, the highest rate in baseball. The second-best rate, by the Colorado Rockies, is 79.1 percent. The gap between the Guardians and Rockies for first and second place is greater than the gap between the No. 2 Rockies and the No 12 Kansas City Royals (77.3).

Sometimes batters hit line drives that are caught for outs, a frustrating result for quality contact. Other times, such as Wednesday night, some weaker hit balls fall for hits in just the right place. If hitters give themselves enough chances, the idea is that they'll run into some rallies a little more often.

"Yeah, we try to tell ourselves that it all evens out," Kwan said. "Usually it doesn’t, but to have those kinds of jam shots and those lucky ones falling, it’s good to see them fall for everybody. Hitting is contagious. It gets the ball rolling, so definitely very important."

Wednesday's win was also an example of a young team refusing to believe they'll lose on a given night, something that has become somewhat of a mantra for the 2022 Guardians. It can't be quantified, but it has been noted on several occasions by both players and Francona as a strong force.

"I don't think it can happen if you are just playing it out. I really don't," Francona said. "It's still an awfully difficult game to win. Sometimes it seems like it's hard for us to win. It's better than losing. I know me and the coaches, we appreciate it. They keep playing. That's a really good characteristic."

The Guardians are the youngest team in baseball with one of the top five lowest payrolls, yet at 63-55 remain one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins and two games ahead of the Chicago White Sox for the division with roughly a month and a half remaining in the regular season. A never-say-die club has exceeded expectations.

"It's a lot of fun. We take a bunch of pride in that," Kwan said. "I think we’re very cognizant that not a lot of people thought we’d be in the position we are, so we take that [as us] being a really young squad, I think we’re really internalizing that and showing it on the field and having a lot of fun and hopefully we keep it rolling."

Because of that, Kwan said, it hasn't added much pressure.

"I think we’re playing with house money right now, especially for that last reason. We’re just having a lot of fun with it, just kind of rolling and whenever the pressure gets too much, we’re always able to lean on each other, so that’s a really nice privilege to have."

Along the way, the Guardians have proved they can punch back. Whether they end up winning the division crown remains to be seen. But they're in the fight.

"I think they're just proving something. I think they're proving something to ourselves every game when we do something like that, but I also think we’re proving something to other teams, like we don’t have quit in us," Wednesday's starter Cal Quantrill said of the young hitters in the clubhouse. "I mean, you got to get 27 outs against us and we got a lot of guys in our lineup who don’t make that easy."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

White Sox at Guardians

Time: 7:10 p.m. Friday

TV: Bally Sports Great Lakes

Pitchers: Lance Lynn (305, 5.62) vs. Triston McKenzie (8-9, 3.14)

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians' high contact, never-say-die attitude leads to unlikely standing