Three Run Homers in the 10th

During yesterday’s Central Division Championship celebration, reliever Zak Kent giddily shared that giving up a 10th inning 3-run homer to Texas Rangers first baseman Rowdy Tellez was the best home run he’d given up in his life. “That was awesome,” he told reporters, his grin bigger than his face.

The reason for this relief pitcher’s joy over giving up a go-ahead bomb in the 10th inning of a game whose outcome really didn’t matter in the scheme of things is because it set up an unlikely scenario for his teammate, Brayan Rocchio.

To appreciate this fully, you have to know a little bit about how extra innings work in Major League Baseball. In order to, um, expedite the game’s conclusion, any inning after the regulation ninth allows for a “ghost runner,” meaning the player who recorded the final out of the previous inning starts on second base. If you’re wondering how that helps, anytime a base runner makes it to second base, they are considered in scoring position — meaning a single could create a scoring opportunity. The idea is that making it easier to score will allow for the game to conclude before every bullpen arm falls off.

For further context, the Cleveland Guardians had already known for two full innings at this point that they had clinched the American League Central Division title after Detroit lost to Boston. At the time the clinch happened, Cleveland was down — and could have easily lazed through the final couple of innings to get to the part where they could drink more champagne and toast the historic feat they’d accomplished by coming back from 15.5 games in the division.

But the Cleveland Guardians take their cues from team leader, face of the franchise superstar José Ramírez who never takes an at-bat off, never fails to hustle down the first base line, and never surrenders. Cleveland, it turns out, did have something to play for: their own pride, their own commitment to their brand of baseball, and to the fans (including me) who were 31,000 strong in the ballpark yesterday afternoon.

There was no quit.

Not even after Zak Kent gave up a three run homer to Rowdy Tellez in the top of the 10th inning.

Kent was in his second inning of relief at that point. Manager Stephen Vogt wasn’t going to turn to his high leverage guys like Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith, not with confirmation that home field advantage had been secured for the Wild Card round starting on Tuesday. Kent was staying out there, no matter what, it seemed.

The inning started with Josh Jung ghost running at second base. Adolis Garcia singled, advancing Jung to third, and Tellez came in to pinch hit, smoking that three-run jack to right field. Some fans started to make their exits — fools that they are — while the next three batters turned into recorded outs in no time.

Again, Cleveland could have decided to punt the bottom of the 10th. A one run deficit in extras could be easily recovered with the ghost runner rule but three to tie it plus one more to win it? That seems like a lot of effort, right?

Well.

The bottom of the 10th started with George Valera ghost running and Bo Naylor hitting a two-run double to score him. Rookie Petey Halpin, in maybe his second week in the big leagues, drew a walk to have runners at first and second with nobody out.

Then up to the plate came Brayan Rocchio, one of the many incredible storylines of the the Guardians’ 2025 season. I will summarize it thusly: had a rough start to the season, was sent down to the minors for awhile, came back up, was moved from shortstop to second base (a position he had to learn at the MLB level) and has been insane ever since. I am truly a Brayan Rocchio fan and to see him achieve what he’s achieved this season and overcome what he’s overcome is awesome.

So, yeah, he steps up to the plate with two on, nobody out in the 10th inning. I think what we all hoped would happen was that he’d sneak a single through and score Bo from second base.

But Brayan had other plans.

Instead of small ball, Brayan Rocchio smashed a towering three run walk off homer to seal the deal on the win and allow for a proper on field celebration to end the regular season.

When asked after the game why the team was still so intent in winning a game they really didn’t have to win, Austin Hedges told radio broadcaster Jim “Rosey” Rosenhaus, “We wanted to do it for the fans. All these fans have been showing up all year. … For them to come out, they deserve to see us truly win the division.”

While that could quite easily sound like lip service, it was evident that Hedgies meant it. This team thrives on the energy the fans bring to the ballpark and they don’t take it lightly that the stands have not only been packed but the fans have been in it from Pitch One, especially these pivotal games over the last week of the season.

Brayan Rocchio, it seems, was prepared to give the fans a show and open the floodgates for a proper celebration where even his teammate Zak Kent could feel grateful for giving up a three run homer to set the stage for Roak’s cinematic conclusion to an absolutely wild regular season of Guardians baseball.

Playoff Rocchio is locked in — and so, it seems, is the entire squad in that Cleveland clubhouse.

Game 1 of the Wild Card series gets underway at 1:08pm tomorrow with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal squaring off against Gavin Williams, the exact same guy he faced (and lost to) exactly one week prior. It’s anyone’s guess how this best-of-three game series will play out, especially with the Guardians and Tigers having already played each other six times in the last two weeks. The Guardians went 5-1 in those series, winning both games that Skubal started, but this isn’t the regular season anymore. Stakes are higher. And anything can happen in baseball.

My gut tells me the Guards will keep going beyond the Wild Card series — but in true baseball fashion, it’s better not to think too far ahead of one pitch at a time.

May the best team win. May that team be from Cleveland. Amen.

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