The never-say-die Guardians of 2022 returned Friday night at Progressive Field.
Down to their last strike in the ninth, the Guardians tied it to force extra innings before finally finishing the job in the 14th in a 10-9 walk-off win over the Houston Astros.
The Guardians (30-33) had to rally in each of the final three innings before finally scoring the game-winner in the 14th.
In the 12th, the Astros took the lead on a single up the middle by Kyle Tucker to score Jose Altuve from second base.
The Guardians seemed to be on the verge of losing, but an error by shortstop Jeremy Pena allowed Josh Naylor to score from second to tie it 7-7.
In the 13th, Mauricio Dubon hit a two-out double off the left-field wall to put the Astros on top 8-7. Jose Altuve then lined a ball to left field and was robbed of a two-run hit by Steven Kwan, who made a highlight-reel diving catch to end the inning.
Kwan then came through at the plate in the bottom half of the inning, hitting an RBI bloop single to left-center field.
After Kyle Tucker again put the Astros ahead with a single up the middle in the 14th, Tyler Freeman tied it with an RBI single and, finally, Will Brennan finished it with a game-winning double to left field.
As the game entered extra innings tied 6-6, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase entered and was able to keep the free runner at second from scoring, putting the offense in an advantageous position. But Cleveland couldn’t capitalize.
Andres Gimenez laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the potential winning runner on third. The Astros intentionally walked Brennan, and David Fry then grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Guardians bullpen again came through in the 11th, as Trevor Stephan induced Altuve into an infield pop-up to strand the potential go-ahead runner at third.
The Jose Ramirez show also continued Friday night. A day after his three-homer game (which also included arguably the defensive highlight of the season for the Guardians), Ramirez followed up with a three-hit game that included a solo home run in the seventh inning that knotted 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 fly.
Ramirez drew a walk with two outs in the ninth off Astros closer Ryan Pressly, which led to Josh Naylor having a chance to tie or win it as the Guardians’ final chance. Down to his last strike, Naylor drilled a double off the wall in left field to score Ramirez from first and tie it 6-6.
‘He’s the best in the game’: Jose Ramirez is the Guardians’ one-man show
The Astros (36-28) jumped on Guardians starter Logan Allen early, with Jose Abreu drilling a three-run home run in the first. Allen allowed five earned runs on nine hits in six innings.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians come back to beat Houston Astros in 14 innings