Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians
FINAL SCORE: CLE 7-0 DET | WP Cade Smith (1-0) | LP Tyler Holton (0-1)
The Tigers offense early in the first made Tanner Bibee work a near 30 pitch inning to open up the game. The Guardians responded by giving Bibee lots of time to rest in the bottom half, as the offense put up a five spot.
Steven Kwan, David Fry, Jose Ramirez and Lane Thomas all delivered early on to put the game out of reach just as it began. While both Tanner Bibee and Reese Olson would settle in, that first pitch three run home run was too massive of a blow to recover from for the Tigers.
Olson would end up going five innings pitched and only let up three hits while striking out four. While many will look at Olson today and think he was responsible for the loss after the Lane Thomas home run, he generated the most swing-and-misses in the game at 13.
The Guardians offense seemed tired of waiting to play and were ready to swing. The top of the order gave more than enough and the bottom of the order hit the ball incredibly hard as well.
Andres Gimenez, Bo Naylor and Brayan Rocchio all had recorded exit velocities from 106-108 MPH in the opening game of this ALDS. While the entire order seemed to find the barrel at some point, the Guardians struggled to put up runs later in the game against Keider Montero.
Montero threw a solid two innings, only allowing one hit and striking out three. While Olson and Montero put together decent outings, they were completely overshadowed by the shutdown Cleveland bullpen.
The combination of Cade Smith and Emmanuel Clase this afternoon was unfair. Smith would pick up the win, and Clase looked untouchable in his inning of work. He sat down one batter on strikes while throwing six pitches 100 MPH or higher.
The Guardians did what they had to in game one and now sit in great position with Tarik Skubal looming over their heads for game two. The Tigers now hope their ace can get them back on track to even the series.
New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
FINAL SCORE: NYM 6-2 PHI | WP Reed Garrett (1-0) | LP Jeff Hoffman (0-1)
Zack Wheeler set the tone early, generating six swing-and-misses in the first frame. Kodai Senga gave up a second deck leadoff home run to Kyle Schwarber, but that would be the last run scored until the eighth inning.
Wheeler worked through the Mets lineup going seven innings pitched, striking out nine and not allowing a run. Wheeler set the Phillies bullpen up nicely, but the Mets bats came alive in the eighth.
After a Francisco Alvarez single, Harrison Bader would be substituted into pinch run. Francisco Lindor would then work a walk and that brought up third baseman Mark Vientos. In what’s been a breakout year for Vientos, he’d leave his mark on this game by driving in Bader to tie the game with an RBI single.
Brandon Nimmo then knocked in another run and Pete Alonso hit a sacrifice fly-out to take a 3-1 lead. The Mets would add a few more runs, and commanded a 6-1 lead heading into the last call for the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth.
In the final frame, Kody Clemens would hit an RBI double to add another run to the Phillies total, cutting the lead to four. However, the only good that came out of that was that the total runs scored to eight, cashing the over for bettors who took the 7.5 line.
The Mets surged late yet again to claim game one at Citizens Bank Park.
Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees
FINAL SCORE: NYY 6-5 KC | WP Clay Holmes (1-0) | LP Michael Lorenzen (0-1) | SV Luke Weaver (1)
Gerrit Cole took the field and worked a quick seven pitch inning that saw a couple scares to the Yankee faithful. A warning track shot in the leadoff at bat from Michael Massey and a near 110 MPH missile hit off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. were both hunted down by Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, eliminating any threat.
The Yankees in the first frame got Michael Wacha into an early jam with runners on second and third with no outs. He’d then strike out both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to work out of the jam allowing no runs.
The Royals would take an early lead in the second frame with a sacrifice fly-out from Tommy Pham. He’d continue to hit the ball hard the entire game recording nearly four exit velocities over 100 MPH.
The Yankees would respond in the second half. Alex Verdugo would get on base with a single and the top of the order would respond as Gleyber Torres hit a bullet home run just over the short porch in right field to swing the lead back to the Yankees at 2-1.
Torres has been a bright spot of this Yankees lineup at the leadoff spot recently, and his only registered hard hit ball of the night was a big one. While it gave the Yankees the lead momentarily, the Royals would take it right back in the fourth inning.
Yuli Gurriel would work a crucial walk from Gerrit Cole, and MJ Melendez followed it up with another home run that scraped over the right field wall in the short porch. The Royals now had the lead at 3-2, but their pitching would shake things up in the next inning.
The Yankees would load the bases yet again off multiple walks and a Juan Soto single. A pair of RBI walks from Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe gave the Yankees the lead again, but that’s all that would come of the inning.
In the sixth Garrett Hampson would hit Tommy Pham and Yuli Gurriel in with a two-RBI single, which would give the Royals the lead back at 5-4. The Yankees however would then score two unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings from two huge RBI singles.
Wells drove in Verdugo in the sixth, while Verdugo came up yet again and delivered another big single, this time scoring the game winning run.
A questionable safe call at second base on a Jazz Chisholm stolen base in that seventh inning makes this win a questionable one for some, but Luke Weaver shut down the Royals lineup for the remainder of the game either way.
San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
FINAL SCORE: LAD 7-5 SD | WP Ryan Brasier (1-0) | LP Adrian Morejon (0-1) | SV Blake Treinen (1)
What looked to be an incredible pitching matchup for this game one proved to not be much of a pitcher’s duel. Both Dylan Cease and Yoshinobu Yamamoto failed to make it further than four innings into their starts, collectively allowing 10 earned runs.
Luis Arraez would unsurprisingly leadoff the game with a single, and a Fernando Tatis Jr. walk into a Jurickson Profar groundout would plate the first run. Manny Machado would then come to the plate and crush a two-run home run 103.3 MPH over the left-center field wall.
The Dodgers would get those three runs right back in the second inning, on the back of Shohei Ohtani. The first ever member of the 50/50 club delivered a near 112 MPH home run over the right field wall to tie the game up at 3-3.
Xander Boegarts would then respond with a two-RBI double that scored Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. In a chaotic fourth inning, Tommy Edman would score on a wild pitch and Teoscar Hernandez would then drive in Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead.
The Dodgers would work San Diego into a jam again in the fifth, where a double play resulted in Will Smith coming across to score, giving the Dodgers a 7-5 lead. This would be the final run scored in the game, yet both teams would continue to threaten late in the game.
The Padres got something going in the eighth inning against Michael Kopech. Jurickson Profar walked and after Kopech struck out Machado, he was set to face rookie Jackson Merrill. The 21-year old looked like a seasoned veteran at the plate against one of the toughest relievers in the game.
Merrill fought through a 10 pitch at bat, fouling off five pitches to draw a huge walk. Blake Treinen would come in and after walking Jake Cronenworth would get out of the jam. The Dodgers would then attempt to respond in the bottom half of the eighth.
Tommy Edman would single and steal second, and with the top of the order up Bryan Hoeing got out of what could’ve been a huge inning for the Dodgers. Despite a late effort from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar to keep the Padres alive, Treinen ultimately got out of it, recording his first save of the postseason and the Dodgers first win of the NLDS.