Guardians’ HR ends scoreless duel in 15th
Rookie Oscar Gonzalez broke up the longest scoreless postseason game in major-league history with a home run leading off the 15th inning, giving the Guardians a 1-0 victory Saturday against the visiting Rays and a two-game sweep of their American League wildcard series.
Gonzalez, who walks to the plate to the ‘‘SpongeBob SquarePants’’ theme song, drove a 1-0 cutter — the 432nd pitch in the game — from Corey Kluber over the wall in left-center field to touch off a wild celebration at Progressive Field.
Gonzalez finished his followthrough and watched where the ball landed while taking 10 small steps toward first, still holding his bat straight down. He then flipped the bat behind him and started trotting around the bases.
As Gonzalez rounded the bases and his teammates gathered near home plate to greet him, the sellout crowd of 34,971 fans shook the ballpark as the Guardians — the youngest team in the majors — clinched a spot in the AL Division Series opposite the Yankees. Game 1 of that series is set for Tuesday in New York.
‘‘There’s no way to describe it,’’ Gonzalez said. ‘‘It was such an exciting moment that it’s hard for me to put into words.’’
The Rays scored one run and hit .115 (9-for-78) in 24 innings in the series.
‘‘I saw guys trying to do too much,’’ manager Kevin Cash said. ‘‘We were looking for the three-run homer with nobody on base. When you take that mindset against good pitchers, they can sit you down.’’
Mariners 10, Blue Jays 9
Adam Frazier doubled home the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning, and the Mariners rallied from an 8-1 deficit by scoring four runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth on their way to finishing a two-game sweep of the host Blue Jays in their AL wild-card series.
The result moved the Mariners, who authored the biggest road comeback in playoff history, into the ALDS against the Astros. That series begins Tuesday in Houston.
Teoscar Hernandez homered twice for the Blue Jays, who lost center fielder George Springer to a collision with shortstop Bo Bichette in the top of the eighth. Bichette’s arm appeared to hit Springer across the forehead, and Springer was taken off the field on a cart.