CLEVELAND, Ohio — In baseball’s storied history, few innings encapsulate a team’s identity quite like the Guardians’ sixth inning against Detroit on Tuesday night. What transpired wasn’t just Cleveland taking a critical game — it was the perfect demonstration of the relentless, chaotic style that’s propelled them to the top of the AL Central.
“That was a crazy inning. That was Guards Ball at its best. They scratch out three runs on three hits that don’t leave the infield,” explained Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com Guardians beat reporter, on the latest edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
The sixth inning began with Cleveland trailing 2-0 against Tarik Skubal, widely considered baseball’s most dominant pitcher this season. The Tigers’ ace had been cruising, looking every bit like the Cy Young frontrunner he is. Then Steven Kwan stepped to the plate.
What followed was baseball chaos theory in action: Kwan’s perfect bunt single. Angel Martínez’s sacrifice attempt that Skubal fielded and then threw wildly past first. The crowd of 29,000 reaching playoff-level decibels as the momentum visibly shifted.
But the most remarkable moment came courtesy of José Ramírez, who demonstrated why he’s among baseball’s elite. After advancing to second base on a wild pitch, Ramírez baited Skubal into a critical mental error.
More Guardians coverage
How David Fry’s frightening sacrifice embodies the Guardians’ relentless spirit
MLB’s automated strike zone set to transform baseball in 2026
Guardians playoff race 2025: What you need to know today, Wednesday, Sept. 24
“He got himself to third base by basically causing the best pitcher in baseball to balk. He sort of froze Skubal,” Joe Noga detailed during the podcast.
This wasn’t just baserunning — it was psychological warfare. Ramírez, without taking an aggressive lead or making an obvious steal attempt, simply timed his movements to perfection. A stutter step, a fake move, and suddenly baseball’s most composed pitcher was flinching into a balk.
The damage wasn’t done. “The first time a reigning Cy Young winner has had a, a wild pitch, an error and a balk all in the same inning,” Noga pointed out, highlighting the historic nature of Skubal’s unraveling.
Gabriel Arias hit a slow roller to first base that brought home the go-ahead run. Later, Daniel Schneemann’s two-run single provided crucial insurance. What began as Skubal’s showcase ended as a clinic in Cleveland’s signature style.
This wasn’t just one chaotic inning — it was “Guards Ball” personified. The art of manufacturing runs without power, creating pressure through speed and execution, and the psychological edge that comes from forcing opponents to play at an uncomfortable pace.
The significance extends beyond this single victory. With this win, Cleveland leapfrogged Detroit into first place for the first time in 155 days. With their playoff odds surging above 80%, the Guardians aren’t just winning games — they’re sending a message about the style of baseball that awaits opponents in October.
For teams preparing to face Cleveland in the postseason, Tuesday’s sixth inning serves as both warning and preview. The Guardians don’t need to overpower you — they’ll simply chaos you into submission.
Want to experience this remarkable turning point for yourself? The full episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast offers complete analysis of this pivotal game and what it means for the Guardians’ playoff push. Listen now to hear Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes break down every aspect of Cleveland’s rise to first place and their outlook heading into October baseball.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, we can say something for the first time that we haven’t been able to say in the last 155 days. The guardians in first place in the American League Central Division by virtue of a 52 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of pretty much the most pivotal series of the season. The final six games of the year at Progressive Field. The regular season at least Guardians upped their playoff odds according to fan graphs, up over 80%. They are in a really strong position right now to make the playoffs, whether it be as the division champion or the wild card. But I don’t think anybody in that clubhouse is thinking wild card right now after winning that game last night. It’s, it’s pretty much eyes locked on the, the AL Central crown and repeating a division championship by overtaking the Tigers.
Paul Hoynes: Exactly right. You know, they, last night’s game gave them the series advantage or the series, the series victory. They’re up 7 4. So that secured the tiebreaker forum which you know, as you said Joe, they really are in first place. They’re tied with Detroit for this with the same record. But you know, the tiebreaker gives them that game advantage should the two teams end in a tie either for the division or the wild card. So that was a huge game last night and I think everyone is thinking, you know, like every guardian has to be thinking that, you know, they want to win the division and have the home field advantage and you know, that would be, you know, that’s a big step in the right direction for this team.
Joe Noga: Yeah. If the, if the postseason started right now, today, the Guardians would be hosting a three game wildcard series against the Tigers. That would be the matchup. But last night’s game of course, uh, featured Gavin Williams and Tarek Skull. You know, school widely regarded as probably the best pitcher in baseball and showed it through the first five innings of game had really taken, taken control and really held the Guardians in check. But then Stephen Kwan came to the plate to start the sixth inning and decided to change things up a little bit on Scubal. The chaos crept back in and guards ball reared its ugly head and, and you know, it wasn’t very long before the guardians turned a two run deficit into a 3:2 advantage.
Paul Hoynes: That was, that was a crazy inning, Joe. That was, you know, guard’s ball at its best. They scratch out three runs on three hits that don’t leave the infield. You know, Quon reaches on the bunt single in front of the mound that the catcher couldn’t handle. Then Martinez, you know, rolls another sacrifice bunt down the first baseline and Scubal for, you know, kind of channeled Mark Burley. The old White Sox pitcher fielded the ball with his back toward first base and hiked it through through his legs, flew over Central Torkelson’s head at first base, and it was off to the races for Quan and Martinez when the dust settled. Quan’s at third, Martinez is at second, and a crowd of over 29,000 is going berserk.
Joe Noga: Yeah, Stephen Vogt had put out a call to guardians fans to, you know, pack the ballpark and make it loud. And it really did sort of. It was as close to a playoff feel for an environment I think that we’re going to get, especially given the matchup and knowing what’s at stake. And you could really feel it in that moment after, after Jose Ramirez steps to the plate and he sends a soft grounder, you know, on the infield, scores a run and sets the stage for one of the scariest moments I think we’ve all seen in, you know, in a game recently. David Fry going out there and taking a 99 mile an hour fastball to the face when he squared the bunt against Tarik Skubal. I don’t know about you, Hoyncy, but just seeing David Frye drop to his, his back in the, in the batter’s box clutching his face, it was, it was kind of, it was just. Your heart just sort of sinks.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, just a terrible moment in the game, Joe. Really scary, I guess, you know, if you’re an old time Indians fan, you probably, you know, think back to Herb score getting hit in the, hit in the eye with a line drive from Gil McDougall. But that was a long time ago. But this, this was frightening. 99 miles an hour, you know, square in the face. Fry goes down, he’s down. You know, Stephen Vogt, the manager, is the first one to reach him. Then the trainers come in, you know, they cover his face with towels for several minutes. They’re working on him. The card comes in, you know, they kind of lead him to the cart. He gets driven off. Stephen Kwan said after the game that he gave the, he gave this, his teammates a thumbs up. But Joe, that, that was, that was frightening. We all hope he’s. David is fine, is good that he recovers, but just, just a terrible thing. And you know, the thing that really struck me, Joe, was Skubal’s reaction. You know, he Threw his glove down, threw his hat down. He put his hands over his mouth like in disbelief. You could just see how upse was and just, you know, no pitcher wants to do that. And, you know, and it’s just, you know, it was, it was such a, you know, a great play that we’ve seen Pride do time and time again, you know, with the, with that bunt, you know, that’s, that’s Vote’s favorite play that it had to be the safety squeeze was on because Martinez was on third base, you know, and Vote loves that play. And, and Fry executed. We saw him executed in the ALDS against Detroit last year. So, you know, it’s just unfortunate that that that happened.
Joe Noga: Yeah. Afterwards, Stephen Kwan, you know, talked about the sacrifices that, that David or David Fry has made, and, you know, it was just another, another example. Quan said, you know, that’s who he is. He’s. He’s a guy who will go out there and do anything for the team. He’s held in such high regard in that clubhouse by every, every player, you know, top to bottom on that roster. So, you know, he kept it light. He did give the. The thumbs up. You know, I wonder. He doesn’t we on the, on his batting helmet like, you see a lot of the guys nowadays wearing, you know, Josh Naylor, Andres Jimenez, guys that, that have worn them on the Guardians roster in the past. But we don’t, we don’t see that on his face. I’m sure that we will move it forward if he makes it back onto the field at some point, whether it be this year or next year. But, yeah, just seeing David Fry carted off the field again, scary. He was taken to Lutheran Medical center where he was treated and tested, and then he was transferred to Cleveland Clinic, where they, they expected to keep him overnight for further testing and observation. Obviously Cleveland Clinic, one of the finest medical centers in. In the country, and they’re better equipped to sort of handle any sort of head injuries, brain injuries, things like that. You know, chances that David Fry makes it back before the end of the regular season, I would say probably pretty slim. Rain hoy.
Paul Hoynes: This is, you know, you can’t come. You need time to heal from that. And we don’t know. We don’t know the extent of the injuries, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. But, you know, I would think Fry is out for the rest of the season and, and the postseason and just, you know, he’s, he’s. He’s had to concentrate on getting healthy right now and, you know, you don’t want to, you know, but you know the business of baseball goes on so obviously they’re going to have to call somebody up. Joe, who do you think are, is, is the main candidate here?
Joe Noga: Yeah, I think probably the best possible candidate might be Jonathan Rodriguez. An outfielder or right handed bat. They need another right handed bat. You know you saw the, you saw it happen last night after Fry leaves the game. George Valera, a lefty against Scubal had to finish the at bat and you know, they didn’t have any right handed options there on the bench. So if, if Fry has to go on the injured list and depending on how, how severe things are, I’m wondering if George, if Jonathan Rodriguez, who, who’s been up multiple times this season on the roster, he, he might be back just to, to give them a different look from the right hand side. So yeah, you know, David Frye authored a, a bunch of really memorable moments in last year’s postseason run. If they’re without his services moving forward, that, that’s going to hurt in a number of ways, I’m sure. But it also gives the, the Guardians a rallying point there. You know, you talk about Skubal and how, how distraught he was. You could pretty much tell because really the wheels fell off the cart after that for Scubal in the sixth inning he, he went into the inning with a two run lead. The Guardians played small ball, they played guards ball, they caused chaos. And then he contributed to it. The first time a Cy Young winner has had a, a wild pitch, an error and a balk all in the same inning. It started with a wild pitch to Valero that allowed Martinez to score from third base. And then it got worse from there.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, the wild pitch, you know, scored Martinez Martin and Ramirez moved up to second base, Scuba Buckt, Jose Ramirez to third. Then you know, Arias, Gabriel Arias, all he did was send a little, a slow roller to first base. Joe. And you know that scored Ramirez to give him the 32 lead. And you know that was pretty much it. I mean that was, you know, that was the go ahead run and really the way the bullpen pitched after that, that was the only run they needed. But Schneemann in the, and added a two run single, five to make it five to two and that was the final score. But, but that’s six inning Joe. People are going to remember that for a long time. For good, for the good reasons and the bad reasons.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I want to go back to, you know, you mentioned it, but I don’t want to overlook the importance of what Jose Ramirez was able to do. That wild pitch got him to second base, but he got himself to third base by basically causing the best pitcher in baseball to bach because he, you know, he took maybe the first two pitches of the at bat with, with areas there at the plate and he, he sort of, you know, froze Skubal. He didn’t make a lot of movement. You knew he wanted to try and get to third base to, to had the chance to score on a ground ball or a fly ball and you know, you wondered if he was going to try a straight steal or, or what. He’s got steals on the season but he didn’t. And you know, that was in the back of Scubal’s mind. After the second or third pitch of the at bat to Arias, Hosie timed his movements perfectly, you know, faked like he was going stutter stepped, you know, made a, made a move and it caused school to flinch. It caused the buck that got into third base and it eventually led to that run. So just those nuanced little subtle things. You know, Hosey didn’t hit a ball out of the infield but he, he managed to get all the way to third base and score easily. And that just shows it’s the, it’s the 5 million reason why he’s, he’s one of the best players in baseball when he’s able to do something like that.
Paul Hoynes: That was a heads up play, Joe, really an intelligent play by Jose. Kind of just baiting Scubal into the bulk, you know. And Scubal, you know, veteran guy, he’s been around the block, you know, that, that, that had to really frustrate him. But you know, if you got a guy on second base like Ramirez, you know, he’s not staying there, you know, in that situation. A base stealer, I mean that guy is born to run. I mean he, you know, he’s, he needs to be on third base and you one way or the other, he was going to get there.
Joe Noga: Yeah, we’re going to start calling Jose Bruce Springsteen when we see him in the, in the clubhouse today because man, he’s born to run. Speaking of born to run. Speaking of born to get the runs, Tommy Kanely comes in in the seventh inning for Detroit and he gets the first two outs rather quickly and he gets to Owen two on Austin Hedges. And then Tommy Kainlee pretty much commits the biggest sin that you can commit if you’re a leverage reliever late in the game when your team needs an out. He throws four straight balls To Austin Hedges. He puts a run around base and then that leads to Stephen Kwan double two runners in scoring position. And then Stephen Vogt sends pinch hitter Daniel Schneemann to the plate. Schneimann is known for pretty much one thing and that’s putting up a professional solid at bat no matter what the situation or the time in the game is. A vote talked about how after the first couple of swings and he was able to foul off a couple of balls against Kyle Finnegan, the Tigers pitcher who came in relief after Kanely to face him. Schneemann, his approach was to sort of stay inside the baseball and he was, he was fouling balls off to the left side and votes. He knew once he saw that the things were going to work out. Schneemann winds up lining a base hit into left center field, scores two runs, spreads things out. And the way the Guardians pitching, the way the Guardians bullpen has been pitching lately, a three run lead might as well have been 30.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that was a great at bat by Schneemann who has really been struggling. He needed that, the team needed that. And you’re right, Joe, just a professional at bat in a big situation and it results in two runs and you get the three two lead, goes to five to two and you know, really set the stage for that Bullpen.
Joe Noga: Yeah, as, as, as we’re talking here about all the runs that, that they scored and the way they, they sort of got themselves to a 52 lead. We haven’t talked, we haven’t even mentioned Gavin Williams and the effort that, that he gave last night. Stephen Vogt called it an absolutely masterful performance by Gavin Williams tied his career high with 12 strikeouts. Guardians pitchers tied a franchise record for a nine inning game with 19 strikeouts in the contest. Gavin Williams, 12 punch outs, goes six innings, works out of a jam in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and doesn’t, doesn’t give up a run in that situation. You know, only allows two runs back to back doubles in the third one of the doubles. A ball that was sort of misread by Angel Martinez in center field. Later he gives up a solo home run to Riley Green who’s got 35 home runs on the year. But other than that, this is a completely different pitcher than the Gavin Williams we saw giving up first pitch home runs early in the season. This is a guy who’s every bit as much has ace qualities as we’ve seen all year long.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he had a great game last night, Joe. This is a guy making his seventh start against the Tigers. He is 3, 2 against them with a 1.64 ERA. He has beat him twice in two weeks. Beat him in Detroit with five scoreless innings, beating him last night with six innings, a two run ball with 12 strikeouts. He has allowed one run against the Tigers in the last 26 innings against them. He is, he’s, he’s dominated Detroit in this situation and he just keeps getting better, Joe. He is, We’ve seen him grow. We’ve seen him make multiple changes to his delivery. We’ve seen him add pitches to his repertoire. Just. And as, as Vogt said, he’s always had elite stuff, good stuff. You know, he, he can throw 97 miles an hour now. He’s added, you know, off speed pitches. He’s got the full complement. And I mean, with him and Bybe, you know, you’ve got to feel great if you’re the Guardians with him and Bobby, you’ve got to feel really, really good going into any postseason series.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, you talk about how the starting pitching has carried the Guardians in this hot streak in the stretch of, of winning 11 of their last 10 and you know what, 16 of their last 18 games, they’re, they’re in dominant month, month of September. Their, their starters ERA over over the month of September, I believe, you know, one point. What, 1.34. 1.34 during their, their last 18 games and they haven’t allowed more than two runs in a, in a start. 11 and oh, in that stretch. So, so yeah, just leading the majors in that span. But Gavin Williams, like you said, Tanner Bybey, who goes tonight, a big reason for that. Just, you know, to see the, the calm and the confidence out of, out of Gavin Williams in that post game. You know, you asked him if he felt juiced up for the start and he said no, it’s just, it feels just like any other start. But you know, inside he’s got to be thinking, man, there’s 29,000 people screaming in the stands and, and, and it’s got to feel good to get 12 punch outs in that game.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he, he just, you know, it’s just fun to watch him work when he’s, when he’s on show. He’s a big strong guy. Six, six, two, 50 throws hard. He’s got that great curveball. He had everything working last night. And you know, I think as, as, as you were saying earlier, you know, that whole rotation, they’re, they’re just kind of pushing each other. You know, like you said, they’re 11 and in their last 17 starts, and it’s one good start after another, they’re all going six innings, seven innings, no one’s allowed more than two earned runs. It’s just a great stretch and it’s probably the biggest reason why, you know, they are in first place today.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and, and he said as much afterwards after the game. He said, you know, everybody’s getting something off of each other, pushing each other in the weight room during their throwing programs. The quote from Gavin Williams was, I think we’re feeding off each other. And that’s, you know, that, that goes back to the, the 2017 guardians or Cleveland rotation where, you know, they, they, each guy wanted to go out there the next night and, and top the starter from the night before. And we’re seeing that again here with these guys right now in this, the Cleveland rotation. It’s been just remarkable, I think, throughout this stretch. And, and look where it’s got them right now. They’re in, in first place in the, the Central Division. If something weird happens over these last five games, they’ve still got the inside track. On the third wild card. Houston lost last night, so they’re a game back of Detroit for the third wild card position. And the Guardians hold tiebreakers over Detroit and Houston with Boston in the second wild card spot. They won last night as well, and the Yankees clinched a postseason berth. Now’s the time to start thinking about plans for next week, Quincy, because the Guardians, one way or another, are more than likely going to be in the postseason. Well, he said that the routines were what he’s learned from Kluber and how to stick to routines. And that was so much of what we always heard when everybody spoke glowingly about Corey Kluber when he was pitching in Cleveland. It was about how he was such a stickler for his routines and how, you know, he was so regimented in everything he did and that’s, that’s what earned him his nickname of, you know, the Cluebot and that, that sort of thing. I, I think if that’s the qualities of Corey Kluber that are rubbing off on Gavin Williams, that’s a great sign because Corey Kluber had great stuff and Corey Kluber was a great pitcher. I, I, I think Gavin Williams is like, you know, Corey Kluber, you know, you know, juiced up. He’s got a 97 mile an hour fastball court by mid season, no be absorbed.
Paul Hoynes: He’s developing natural rhythm of the game qualities.
Joe Noga: You know, the thing I like about.
Paul Hoynes: It is it’s an arm that’s been.
Joe Noga: You know, blessed by the gods.
Paul Hoynes: Flashing on the scoreboard.
Joe Noga: Even better. You know, a version of it. I, it is on the plate. So it’s interactive influence there.
Paul Hoynes: Fans know what’s going on. You know, they, they can tell where the pitch is if it was a good challenge or a bad challenge. Yeah, the thing I was a little unclear about, if you, if a hitter or pitcher or catcher challenge and, and they’re right, do they keep the challenge? Do they, can they keep going?
Joe Noga: Okay, yes. All right, that’s, that’s what I get. Yeah, it’s, you know, a great influence there. Shout out to Scotty Anderson and the, the guys in the clubhouse, Tony Amato. Those guys want to, wanted to hear themselves on the podcast. I got to make sure we get them in here. Scotty, this is your shout out on today’s podcast. Keep up the good work. Keep everybody rolling. We got to talk about robot umpires Wednesday. The dawn of a new age is coming next season. Major League Baseball announcing yesterday that the automated ball strike system Challenge system will be implemented in all facets of the game. Regular season, spring training, postseason. The human element isn’t going away. Umpires are still there. But this is probably the best version of robot umpires, the automated strike zone that, that we’ve seen. Players are getting used to it at the upper levels of the, the minor league systems over the last several years and now it’s going to be in the major leagues. What did Stephen Vogt have to say about the, the, the dawn of the age of robot umpires coming next season? Not a, not a fan. Because threatens job security for guys like Austin Hedges. You know, I think we said the same things about the pitch clock and about the disengagement rules and the, the new base stealing rules that were implemented a few years back. And you know, now could you imagine a game going on without the pitch clock, without the pitch timer? And, and, and you know, we’re never going back, Quincy. We’re never going back to four hour games and in September or you know, marathon three hour games during the regular season. I think the robot umpires at the automated strike zone, the challenge system, I think it’s all going to go the same way. I think like you said, there will be a period of struggle and controversy over it in the beginning, but by mid season, you’re not even going to give it a second thought. It’ll be natural. These challenges take under 14 seconds in most cases to pop up on the scoreboard. I think the fans are going to be more engaged with it when those, when they see it. I’ve said from the beginning I don’t think two challenges per game is enough. I think, you know, I think maybe three challenges like you get, you know, three timeouts per half in a, an NFL game, I think that’s a good standard number to go with where you can feel like you, you have the freedom to sort of use a challenge and, you know, still have one or two in the tank for an important situation, a critical situation. I know that once you get to extra innings, you get an ext, you’ll, you’ll get an additional challenge if you’re out of challenges in extra innings. So that’s important as well. A good, you know, tweak to the rule there. But I think you’re going to find in a lot of cases that two isn’t going to be enough. And the whole point of this is to get the egregiously missed calls, the really bad ones, the really bad missed calls in the strike zone is to get those out of the game, is to, you know, the game altering missed calls. You know, we’re going to see those go away, hopefully. Whether that’s early in the game or in the third or fourth inning or, you know, or late in the game in a, in a big spot. I think this is a positive and this is a good thing. You know, Austin Hedges might not like it, but Austin Hedges could, could find a way to take advantage of it as a hitter and you know, when the next, the first time one of his pitchers is, you know, gets a strikeout because of a call that gets challenged, I think, I think Austin Hedges is going to see the positive in it. This is, you know, it’s new. It just because it’s different, because it hasn’t been around for 150 years like baseball, it’s, it’s going to take some getting used to, but I think we will. You could challenge an infinite number of times if Angel Hernandez were behind the plate and then he kept missing strikes and you kept challenging and continuing that you would you retain your challenge no matter what. So I think that’s a, that, that’s a good aspect of it as well. Particularly when you get some of these guys who have liberal views about the strike zone or conservative views. That’s a bad way, bad way to say that in this day and age. Anyways, robot umpires are coming. We’ll have a lot more to say about that. Game two is coming. Tanner Bybee versus Jack Flaherty tonight. Big series hopefully the weather cooperates with us, and if it does, we’ll be back here to talk about it on tomorrow’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. We’ll check back in with you then.