The 2022 Guardians Who Never Say Die returned Friday night to Progressive Field.
Until their final strike in the ninth, the Guardians tied it to force extra innings before finally finishing the job in the 14th in a 10-9 win over the Houston Astros.
The Guardians (30-33) had to rally in each of the last three innings before finally scoring the game-winner in the 14th.
In the 12th, the Astros took the lead on a single down the middle by Kyle Tucker to score Jose Altuve from second base.
The Guardians looked set to lose, but an error by shortstop Jeremy Pena allowed Josh Naylor to score from second to tie the game 7-7.
In the 13th, Mauricio Dubon hit a two-out double on the left field wall to put the Astros up 8-7. Jose Altuve then fielded a ball to left field and had a two-run hit stolen by Steven Kwan, who made a highlight diving catch to end the inning.
Kwan then moved to home plate in the bottom half of the inning, hitting an RBI bloop single to left center field.
After Kyle Tucker gave the Astros the lead again with a single in the middle of the 14th, Tyler Freeman tied it with an RBI single and eventually Will Brennan finished it off with a double winner to left field.
As the game entered the extra innings tied at 6-6, closer Goalie Emmanuel Clase came in and was able to stop the free runner on second from scoring, putting the offense in an advantageous position. But Cleveland couldn’t capitalize.
Andres Gimenez made a sacrificial bunt to put the potential winning runner in third. The Astros intentionally walked Brennan, and David Fry then dug in on a late-inning double play.
The Guardians bullpen ran through the 11th again, as Trevor Stephan induced Altuve on an inside pop-up to block the potential runner at third.
The Jose Ramirez show also continued on Friday night. A day after his three-home run game (which also included arguably the defensive highlight of the season for the Guardians), Ramirez followed that up with a three-hit game that included a solo home run in the seventh inning that tied the score 5-5.
With the score still tied in the eighth, the Astros took the lead against James Karinchak on Yainer Diaz’s sacrifice volley.
Ramirez tied with two outs in the ninth against Ryan Pressly of the Astros, giving Josh Naylor a chance to tie or win as the Guardians’ last chance. Until his last shot, Naylor drilled a brace against the wall in left field to score Ramirez from first and tie it 6-6.
“It’s the best of the game”: Jose Ramirez is the Guardians’ one-man show
The Astros (36-28) pounced on Guardians starter Logan Allen early, with Jose Abreu drilling a three-run homer in the first. Allen allowed five earned runs on nine hits in six innings.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians return to beat Houston Astros in 14 innings