Cleveland fans waited half a day to see whether their team could emerge with a victory over Tampa Bay. The long wait paid off.
Cleveland and Tampa Bay played a scoreless game for 14 innings, but it looked like the Rays might break through in the top of the 15th. Tampa Bay got runners on the corners with one out, but Francisco Mejia and Jose Siri both struck out to end the threat. Both batters went down on three pitches, too.
After escaping the jam, Cleveland decided to go ahead and win the game.
Oscar Gonzalez smacked the second pitch of the inning deep to left field for the first and only run of the game.
OSCAR GONZALEZ SENDS CLEVELAND TO THE ALDS 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Ql1jZhXn7p
— ESPN (@espn) October 8, 2022
What a clutch hit by Gonzalez. The big blow came off Corey Kluber, who spent nine seasons with Cleveland and won two Cy Young Awards for the team.
Gonzalez went 2-for-5 in the game and had 40 percent of Cleveland’s hits, and all of their runs.
Maybe the 24-year-old was boosted by some good mojo from his SpongeBob walk-up music.
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Oscar Gonzalez has the Spongebob Squarepants theme song as his walk-up music 😂
(ESPN) pic.twitter.com/DbgkFVbMfv
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 7, 2022
Cleveland took Game 1 of the best-of-3 series with Tampa Bay by a 2-1 score on Friday. The win on Saturday allowed them to advance to the ALDS, where they will take on the New York Yankees.
