Baseball games don’t really come down to singular plays. There’s always the play that came before that put the play in question in position to happen in the first place. There’s always a bloop hit that might not have dropped, a fielder positioned in the right or wrong spot or an umpire’s ball/strike call that could have gone the other way. Certain moment stick out, but they are hardly ever the only moment to decide a game.
But if there was ever one play to not just change the fortunes of a season, let alone a game, we saw it on Thursday evening in the Guardians’ Game 4 American League Division Series victory against the Tigers. The ball came off the bat of David Fry, but it wasn’t his pinch-hit, go-ahead, 101 mph-off-the-bat, 382-foot home run in the top of the 7th. No, alternatively, it was his 38 mph safety squeeze bunt.
A sleeper pick to be a regular player coming into the season, David Fry has done it all at some point for this team. Having played five different defensive positions, including catcher, before an elbow injury relegated him to DH duty, Fry has been all over the field. After a hot start this year that led to an All-Star selection, Fry did cool off in the dog days of the season before putting together a solid .747 OPS in September.
He’s carried that into the post-season where he has had enough key hits to lead Cleveland in RBI. Still, no RBI was bigger than his 8th-inning squeeze play. I can’t think of a better player to have had the versatility of his back-to-back at-bats be a go-ahead homer and insurance run squeeze play than Fry. It also exemplifies the culture of the team he plays for.
This is a Guardians team that talks about leaving their egos behind when they walk into the clubhouse or onto the field. Fry, in his plate appearance following the biggest home run of his career and possibly the Guardians’ season, humbled himself in his next opportunity at the plate.
Before his turn at the dish, he was asked by manager Stephen Vogt if he felt comfortable bunting. Fry’s answer? Something along the lines of “Sure, I used to have to bunt all the time growing up.” Fry reminded everyone in a post-game interview the last and only time he had bunted this season he bunted into a double play.
With no hubris but a with a lot of confidence that he could get the job done, Fry did what he was asked in order for the team to succeed. And an inning after putting the ball over the fence, Fry executed a perfect safety squeeze. A safety squeeze that would give Cleveland a much-needed 5-3 lead, as Detroit would close within one run in the ninth before being vanquished by closer Emmanuel Clase.
To his credit, shortstop Brayan Rocchio did his part, performing a beautiful head-first slide and sneaking his hand in before Detroit catcher Jake Rogers’ tag. Without that perfectly executed bunt and slide the Guardians very well may have been on a plane to clean out the clubhouse today, rather than gearing up for a winner-take-all showdown Saturday afternoon.
The play exemplifies a team that just wants to succeed for each other. A team whose heart still beats and is looking to do more of the unexpected, trying to take down the likely AL Cy Young Award winner on Saturday in pursuit of a date in the ALCS against the New York Yankees.
Plays like Fry’s squeeze bunt remind you to expect the unexpected in October. I wouldn’t be so sure Vogt’s group is done just yet.
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