CLEVELAND (AP) — Chase DeLauter has gone through extremes during his first month in the majors.
The Cleveland Guardians rookie started the season on fire with five home runs in his first seven regular-season games.
DeLauter went into a slump after a seventh-inning, two-run homer against the Chicago Cubs during Cleveland’s home opener on April 3. Before Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Astros, he was mired in a 7-for-47 slump.
DeLauter might have gotten his season back on track with a go-ahead, three-run triple in the eighth inning that propelled Cleveland to an 8-5 victory.
DeLauter was 0 for 3 when he came up with one out and the bases loaded, with the Guardians trailing 4-3. On a 2-2 count, he lined a fastball over the middle of the plate from Houston’s Bryan King down the left-field line.
Brice Matthews tried to make a diving stop on the ball, but it was beyond his glove and dropped before rattling into the left-field corner. Angel Martínez, Bryan Rocchio and Steven Kwan scored as DeLauter slid into third with his first career triple.
“At the end of the day, trying to be myself. But big situation, one out, trying to get a ball forward,” DeLauter said about the game-winning hit. “I was looking for a heater. I got a couple there that I fouled off, but just trying to battle and get something out there. I got the pitch to hit.”
The hit was huge for DeLauter and the Guardians, who were 0-10 when trailing after seven innings before scoring six in the eighth to improve to 4-2 on their current homestand.
“It’s no secret he hasn’t gotten results, but this kid’s a good hitter,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Good hitters use the whole field, and cool moment for him. Obviously, a huge hit for us. We needed a comeback win like that tonight.”
DeLauter was the first Cleveland player to make his major league debut in last year’s AL Wild Card series against Detroit. In his first seven regular-season games, he batted .346 (9 for 26) with five home runs and eight RBIs.
Things got more difficult as opposing pitchers changed their strategy against DeLauter, whose batting average had dropped to .211 when he came up in the eighth inning.
Despite the rough stretch, Vogt kept confidence in DeLauter and didn’t remove him from the lineup. The third-year manager also kept DeLauter in the two spot, between AL All-Stars Steven Kwan and José Ramírez.
“The game moves fast. You get off to a hot start and teams want to figure out how to shut that down,” DeLauter said. “I think the big thing is not falling into those adjustments and wondering why it’s happening and what’s going wrong.
“I feel like a lot of guys, younger guys start to have those thoughts roll in and to hear from the team that they believe in you to have you out there, it’s a good feeling.”
The one thing DeLauter has been consistent with is producing in the eighth inning or later. He is 6 for 19 with two homers and seven RBIs in the late innings.
Despite hitting in front of Ramírez, DeLauter said that it hasn’t been a hindrance.
“Of course I want to get José up there with runners on as much as possible, I mean, that’s the goal, but I think when I’m putting too much pressure on myself, or I’m ignoring some of this stuff too, it doesn’t put me in the best spot. So I think the best thing I can do is go up to the plate with all the confidence and just be myself in any situation in the game,” DeLauter said.
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