CLEVELAND (AP) — Brayan Rocchio hit a walk-off homer in the ninth inning after connecting on a tying grand slam in the fourth, rallying the Cleveland Guardians to a 7-6 comeback victory over the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a split doubleheader on Friday.
Rocchio became the sixth player in MLB history with a grand slam and a walk-off in the same game. The last was Boston’s Jack Clark on July 31, 1991.
With the win, the Guardians remained in the final American League wild-card position.
Cleveland scored six unanswered runs after falling behind 6-1 in the third, capped by Rocchio’s leadoff homer to left field in the ninth off Drew Sommers (1-4). It was his third career walk-off home run and his initial grand slam.
Cade Smith (4-1) pitched the ninth for the win, which was the Guardians’ third in seven games on their critical homestand. The Tigers fell to 4-15 since Aug. 14.
Detroit pushed its lead out to 6-1 in the third on Spencer Torkelson’s solo homer off Slade Cecconi before the Guardians erupted for five in the fourth. Travis Bazzana had an RBI single before Rocchio sent Keider Montero’s pitch 366 feet over the fence in right.
Rookies Max Clark and Ben Malgeri each had two-run singles in the first, when the Tigers scored four times against Logan Allen in his first start since July 18. Gleyber Torres had two singles and two runs in the first two innings.
Montero allowed six runs in four innings, while Allen gave up five in 2 1/3 innings. Clark had three singles.
The first pitch was delayed by 1 hour and 4 minutes because of rain.
Up next
Tigers LHP Andrew Sears (0-1, 6.75 ERA) faces Guardians LHP Foster Griffin (15-4, 3.21) in the second game. National League All-Star Griffin is 3-1 in five starts with Cleveland.
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